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THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - September 2, 2010

Obama Comes Out Swinging on Economy, Slams GOP on Jobs
by: Margaret Talev and David Lightman
McClatchy Newspapers

Washington - President Barack Obama signaled Monday that
he'll tackle rather than run from the economy as he
campaigns for Democrats this fall.

Speaking from the White House Rose Garden, the president
accused Republicans of holding a jobs bill hostage for
political reasons to the detriment of small business
owners ? and the workers they'd hire if the bill were
enacted.

"I ask Senate Republicans to drop the blockade," Obama
said.

The president also said that between now and the fall
elections he'll announce more plans to promote short-term
growth and long-term economic competitiveness. He promised
additional measures to extend middle-class tax cuts, invest
in clean energy and cut taxes for businesses to encourage
them to hire.

"I know we're entering election season, but the people who
sent us here expect us to work together to get things done
and improve this economy," he said.

The timing of Obama's remarks reflects recognition that
public confidence in the economy ? and Democrats' steward-
ship of it ? is weak and eroding, along with weekly
measures of economic vitality. That could boost Republicans
in November's elections.

The small business bill will be the Senate's first major
priority when it returns on Sept. 13. The House of
Representatives already has passed measures to set up a
$30 billion loan fund for small business. The Treasury
Department would administer it through small, healthy
community banks to get money into the hands of small
business owners. The bill also would provide a series
of tax breaks for small businesses.

The Senate bill has stalled because Republicans say that
it doesn't address two of their most pressing concerns:
The expiration of Bush-era tax cuts and a requirement in
the new health care law that they say could burden small
businesses with paperwork.

Obama said the Senate Republicans' opposition "makes no
sense. This bill is fully paid for. It will not add to
the deficit, and there is no reason to block it besides
pure partisan politics."

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Republicans say the bill is further evidence the Obama
administration wants to spend its way out of the economic
slump.

"Instead of growing jobs as promised, Washington Democrats
have grown the size of the national debt, the federal
government and the unemployment rate," Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Monday.

Privately, lawmakers from both parties say they expect
that Democrats will get the votes they need to cut off
debate next month and pass the bill.

Foreign policy was supposed to dominate Obama's agenda
this week, with the president delivering an address to
the nation Tuesday night to take credit for pulling combat
troops out of Iraq as he promised, and getting the Mideast
peace process jump-started with new talks between Israeli
and Palestinian leaders this week in Washington.

He visited privately with wounded troops Monday at the
Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and will
see other soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas, on Tuesday ahead
of his prime-time speech.

(Kevin G. Hall contributed to this article.)

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