MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Obama calls on opposition not to play political games and approve jobs package

The US president has to convince Republicans the bill is not another stimulus plan (Photo AP)

President Barack Obama called on Republicans not to play “political games” with his jobs plan as he pressed for swift passage of a 447 billion dollars package he hopes will revive the US economy and boost his re-election prospects.

Four days after challenging Congress to act in a televised address, Obama stepped up his campaign to sell his proposals to American voters as he prepared to send the jobs bill to lawmakers later on Monday.

“This is a bill that is based on ideas from both Democrats and Republicans, and this is a bill that Congress needs to pass -- no games, no politics, no delays,” Obama said in an appearance in the White House Rose Garden, holding up a thick text of the legislation held together with a black clip.

The president, who pushed through an 800 billion dollars economic stimulus package in 2009, will see his re-election chances hinging heavily on his ability to reduce stubbornly high unemployment above 9%.

Cooperation in Washington could be hard to find in a climate of dysfunction where a nasty feud over the government's debt levels this summer brought the country to the brink of default and led to an unprecedented US credit downgrade.

Top Republicans have said they are open to some aspects of the Obama jobs plan but are not convinced the infrastructure and other stimulus spending is a good idea, given it would further swell budget deficits in the near term.

Eric Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House of Representatives, indicated the Republican-controlled chamber would not support ideas like construction spending and aid to cash-strapped states that were in the 2009 stimulus bill.

These items account for about 150 billion dollars, or about a third, of Obama's current plan.

“Anything that is akin to the stimulus bill I think is not going to be acceptable to the American people” Cantor told reporters shortly after Obama's Rose Garden speech.

“We've been there, done that. The country cannot afford more spending like the stimulus bill.”

Some Republicans have resisted the White House suggestion that the jobs plan would be “paid for” with longer-term deficit cuts, saying it is important to make fiscal health a priority now and not leave it for future generations to grapple with.

John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House, said he hoped to be able to work with Obama to “put in place the best ideas of both parties and help put Americans back to work.”

But Boehner said his party has a “different vision” from Obama on job creation and that the president's ideas will require “careful examination” in light of what Republicans see as wasteful spending in previous stimulus plans”.