Obama Gets Bad News on Unemployment, Urges Passage of Jobs Bill
Tom Diemer
Correspondent
Posted:
08/19/10
Before heading off for a New England vacation Thursday, President Obama called on Senate Republicans to stop blocking a jobs bill meant to help small businesses by providing tax breaks and loans through local banks.
In brief remarks to reporters outside the White House, the president said a "partisan minority" in the Senate is standing in the way of legislation that promises $30 billion in loans to Main Street businesses. Republicans have denounced the plan as a mini-bailout. But Obama said their refusal to permit the bill to even advance to a final vote is an "obstruction that defies common sense." He said the bill "is fully paid for and will not add one single dime to our deficit."
More economic bad news came the president's way before he left the Washington for a family vacation on Martha's Vineyard, off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass. The Labor Department reported first-time claims for unemployment compensation jumped to 500,000 last week, the highest since November and up 12,000 from the previous week. Obama says 60 percent of the job losses are in the small business sector.
He said small business legislation will be the first item on the Senate calendar when it returns from a summer recess next month. "Let's put aside the partisanship for awhile and work together for small businesses, for employees, and the communities that depend on them across this great country."
In brief remarks to reporters outside the White House, the president said a "partisan minority" in the Senate is standing in the way of legislation that promises $30 billion in loans to Main Street businesses. Republicans have denounced the plan as a mini-bailout. But Obama said their refusal to permit the bill to even advance to a final vote is an "obstruction that defies common sense." He said the bill "is fully paid for and will not add one single dime to our deficit."
More economic bad news came the president's way before he left the Washington for a family vacation on Martha's Vineyard, off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass. The Labor Department reported first-time claims for unemployment compensation jumped to 500,000 last week, the highest since November and up 12,000 from the previous week. Obama says 60 percent of the job losses are in the small business sector.
He said small business legislation will be the first item on the Senate calendar when it returns from a summer recess next month. "Let's put aside the partisanship for awhile and work together for small businesses, for employees, and the communities that depend on them across this great country."