President Barack Obama on Thursday used his first news conference in more than two months to argue forcefully for his jobs bill, saying he is ?comfortable? with a proposal by Senate Democrats to add a 5.6 percent surtax on millionaires if that?s what it takes to get his bill through Congress.
Obama challenged Republicans to explain why they oppose his?$447 billion American Jobs Act or propose an alternative that will put people back to work.
Continue Reading?I would want nothing more than to see a Congress act so aggressively that I can?t campaign against them as a do-nothing Congress,? he said.
Facing the White House press corps for his full-fledged question-and-answer session since July 15 (he took half a dozen questions from reporters a week later), Obama spoke about congressional opposition to his jobs bill, shared his views on the Occupy Wall Street protests and voiced his confidence in two scandal-plagued members of his Cabinet, Attorney General Eric Holder and Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
Obama began his East Room appearance on time at 11 a.m.with a statement on his jobs bill, then talked up his plan throughout the 72-minute session. Though the president wasn?t quite as confrontational as he has been in some recent speeches, when he?s called out GOP congressional leaders by name, Obama confronted Republican opposition to his jobs bill and his broader agenda.
?This is not a game, this is not the time for the usual political gridlock,? Obama said, repeating what he?s said at campaign-like events around the country. ?The problems Europe is having today could have a very real effect on our economy at a time when it?s already fragile. But this jobs bill will help guard against another downturn if the situation in Europe gets any worse. It will boost economic growth, it will put people back to work.?
He said his proposed ?Buffett Rule,? which would bring tax rates for top earners to the same levels other Americans pay, was a ?solid approach? to funding the bill. Under the new surtax plan that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) proposed earlier this week, ?We?re still going to need to reform this tax code to make sure that we?re closing loopholes, closing special interest tax breaks. ? But in terms of the immediate action of getting this jobs bill passed, I?m fine with the approach that they?re taking.?
The White House had previously said that the president was ?open? to the surtax plan. Reid and three other top Senate Democrats are headed to the White House Thursday afternoon for a meeting on the jobs bill, which is set to go to the floor next week.
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