WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama launched a widely expected plan Tuesday night to stimulate economic recovery and strengthen the country’s struggling employment situation, Xinhua News reports.
“Tonight we meet at an urgent time for our country,” Obama told a joint session of the Congress.
“We continue to face an economic crisis that has left millions of our neighbors jobless, and a political crisis that has made things worse.”
“The people of this country work hard to meet their responsibilities,” the president said.
“The question tonight is whether we’ll meet ours. The question is whether, in the face of an ongoing national crisis, we can stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy.”
Obama urged Congress to pass the $447-billion stimulus plan immediately.
Titled the American Jobs Act, it was the third major stimulus package since the 2008 outbreak of the latest international financial crisis.
“It will create more jobs for construction workers, more jobs for teachers, more jobs for veterans, and more jobs for the long-term unemployed,” he said.
“It will provide a tax break for companies who hire new workers, and it will cut payroll taxes in half for every working American and every small business,” the president added, saying that the plan would help kick-start the stalled US economy.
The centre piece of the plan is a deeper-than-expected $240-billion payroll tax cut for employers and employees meant to keep money in the pockets of those most in need and most likely to spend extra cash to spur demand.