Economy in peril, Obama pushes plan to Congress

WASHINGTON — Struggling to fix the sickly economy, President Barack Obama was appealing for support from a divided Congress Thursday night for a $300 billion battery of ideas to create jobs quickly and keep more cash in the pockets of dispirited Americans. His message to Republican lawmakers: This is your mess to clean up, too.

Obama's furious push on employment, his latest stab at the defining issue of his presidency, aimed to shore up his chances of keeping his own job next year. He must stem eroding confidence in his leadership as the public mood darkens and Republican presidential challengers assail his record.

In a nationally televised address to Congress, Obama was expected to announce a program of tax cuts, construction spending, unemployment aid and money for states. The core elements include extending the current reduction in the amount of Social Security payroll tax that workers pay, and expanding jobless benefits for those who can't find work month after month.

The cost was expected to be at least $300 billion, and perhaps more. Obama was to offer ways to pay for it without sinking the nation deeper in debt.

In the best case, such a package could provide help that people would feel in their daily lives. It would boost consumer and investor confidence and spur hiring.

Yet even that might not help the recovery enough to assuage the millions of unemployed, let alone satisfy voters.

And that's assuming Obama gets what he asks from Capitol Hill. His plan would require approval by a Congress that is deeply divided, with many House Republicans strongly opposed to his efforts.

To pay for his plan, Obama will challenge a new debt panel in Congress to go beyond its charge of identifying $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction, so the extra savings could offset the cost of short-term stimulus ideas. That panel met for a first time Thursday, members expressing determination but facing a demanding assignment.

Obama was expected to propose paying for some of his jobs initiatives by closing corporate tax loopholes and increasing taxes on wealthier Americans, measures he failed to win during summer negotiations over increasing the nation's debt ceiling.

Offsetting some costs of his economic plan with new tax revenue is likely to meet stiff resistance from Republicans. But the White House has argued that the public has supported a mix of spending cuts and revenue as a way to avoid higher deficits. White House Chief of Staff William Daley said before the speech that wealthy Americans "ought to pay a little more."

The American public is weary of talk and wary of promises that help is on the way.

About 14 million people are unemployed. There is just one job opening available for every four job seekers, on average, in the richest nation on earth.

In one striking sign of discontent, nearly 80 percent of people think the country is headed in the wrong direction. That's about the same level of pessimism as when Obama took office. It reflects both persistently high unemployment and disgust with Washington infighting.

No incumbent president in recent history has won re-election with the unemployment rate anywhere near the current level, 9.1 percent.

Writ large, Thursday night was about more than a speech or plan, suggesting whether the nation's leaders can agree on any ways to help a nation in economic peril.

Some Republican leaders, under their own pressure from constituents to get results, offered signs of compromise before Obama spoke.

"The American people want us to find common ground, and I'm going to be looking for it," House Speaker John Boehner told reporters.

The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, wasn't so upbeat. He cast Obama's expected ideas as retreads, saying: "This isn't a jobs plan. It's a re-election plan."