David Espo of the Associated Press is reporting that President Barack Obama is expected to propose $300 billion in tax cuts and federal spending Thursday night to get Americans working again. Republicans offered Tuesday to compromise with him on jobs — but also assailed his plans in advance of his prime-time speech.
The president will be addressing this issue following a nationally televised debate that will feature Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, who revealed a jobs plan on Tuesday; and Rick Perry, who is now leading Romney in some polls.
In addition, a bipartisan congressional committee is slated to hold its first public meeting on Thursday as it embarks on a quest for deficit cuts of $1.2 trillion or more over a decade. If there is no agreement, automatic spending cuts will take effect, a prospect that lawmakers in both parties have said they would like to avoid.
Espo reports that two of the biggest measures in the president's proposals for 2012 are expected to be a one-year extension of a payroll tax cut for workers and an extension of expiring jobless benefits. Together those two would total about $170 billion.
The White House is also considering a tax credit for businesses that hire the unemployed. That could cost about $30 billion. Obama has also called for public works projects, such as school construction. Advocates of that plan have called for spending of $50 billion, but the White House proposal is expected to be smaller.
We're glad to see that President Obama is addressing the jobs issue head on by incentivizing job creation and hiring the unemployed. How sad is it, yet completely expected, that the GOP would shoot down the plan before it is even finalized and revealed? Clearly President Obama's attempt at bipartisanship is a one-way pursuit. Hopefully, enough members of Congress will remember to focus on what is most important: getting all Americans back to work.
Read more at Yahoo News.
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