US President Barack Obama on Thursday said that he was “comfortable” with a Senate proposal to pay for his jobs legislation with a tax surcharge on income above $1 million.
“I’m fine with the approach they have taken,” Obama said when asked at a news conference about the tax proposal put forth by Senate Democrats to cover the $445 billion cost of a jobs proposal that would, among other features, lower payroll taxes on workers and employers. He said Congress would still have to make other changes to the tax code as part of a broader program to reduce the deficit over the next 10 years.
He said there is “no doubt” that the American economy is weaker now than it was at the beginning of 2011, and he called for the Senate to pass his jobs act when it takes up the measure next week, saying the bill will help protect the United States if the European debt crisis creates further turmoil in the global economy.
“The economy is just too fragile to let politics get in the way of action,” Obama said in remarks before he took questions from reporters in the White House East Room.
“This is not a game,” the President said, “The problems Europe is having right now could have a very real effect on our economy.” He said that the jobs bill “could help guard against a downturn if the situation in Europe gets any worse.”
Obama blamed the economy’s weakness on the downturn in Europe, slow job growth and what he called the “debacle” of this past summer’s debt ceiling negotiations.
Obama has been travelling the country to push his jobs plan, and he has been far more aggressive about challenging Republicans to “explain,” as he said on Thursday, “why they would be opposed to common-sense ideas” that he said have had bipartisan support in the past.
Obama also talked about the Occupy Wall Street protests that have been gaining strength in recent days. “Americans understand that not everybody has been following the rules,” he said. “These days a lot of folks that are doing the right thing aren’t rewarded, and a lot of folks who aren’t doing the right thing are rewarded.”
He expressed solidarity with some of the protesters, saying that they were “giving voice to a more broad-based frustration about how our financial system works.”
Obama did not say whether he would veto a bill currently before the Senate that would accuse China of manipulating its currency. He said that “it is indisputable that they intervene heavily in the currency markets,” but added that the United States has to make sure that whatever steps it takes against China will be upheld by the World Trade Organization.
Obama defended his administration’s handling of a federal loan guarantee for Solyndra, the solar equipment manufacturer that declared bankruptcy last month after borrowing $528 million with the government’s backing. He said that the loan program to companies like Solyndra predated his times in office, but added, in response to a question from a reporter, that “the process by which the decision was made was on the merits. It was straightforward.”
He said that “of course there were going to be debates internally when you’re dealing with something as complicated as this,” an apparent reference to emails that have surfaced that show that administration officials questioned the company’s financial viability.
©2011 The New York
Times News Service
