Obama To Present Proposals on Jobs, Deficit
By VOA
White House officials say U.S. President Barack Obama will present new plans to create jobs and cut the budget deficit early next month, after he and Congress return from summer vacations.
They say Mr. Obama will likely call for tax cuts, infrastructure investment and help for the long-term unemployed.
Mr. Obama has hinted about new economic ideas while speaking on a three-day bus tour of Midwestern U.S. states. He wraps up the tour Wednesday in his home state of Illinois. Job creation was a key theme at his stops in Minnesota and Iowa.
Republicans criticized the tour, with some calling it a campaign trip paid for by taxpayers. Republican presidential candidates also attack Mr. Obama’s record on the economy, because the recovery is fading and unemployment remains above 9 percent.
White House officials say Mr. Obama also will call for cutting the budget deficit by more than the $1.5 trillion target that a bipartisan congressional committee is aiming for.
The committee of six Democrats and six Republicans is to propose cuts by December as part of a deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling last month.
An opinion poll published by Gallup this week gave the president a 39 percent job approval rating, the lowest since he took office. Other polls give Congress a much lower approval rating.
