U.S. President Barack Obama is blasting Republican lawmakers on the second day of his bus tour, accusing them of killing jobs and raising taxes on working people.
Mr. Obama spoke Tuesday at a community center in Jamestown, North Carolina, and later at a high school in Emporia, Virginia, to rally support for his $447 billion jobs bill.
The president said he was giving lawmakers a second chance to listen to the American people and “do their jobs” by passing pieces of his jobs plan individually.
He accused lawmakers who voted against his bill of essentially raising taxes on working Americans by rejecting a tax cut that would lower the payments for many families by $1,000. He also said a Republican jobs plan would actually cost the country jobs instead of creating them.
But Mr. Obama also called for more cooperation between Republicans and Democrats, saying he is the president of all Americans, not just those from one political party. He urged Americans to contact their members of Congress in support of his jobs plan.
Mr. Obama won both North Carolina and Virginia during the 2008 presidential election and both southern states are considered important to his re-election chances next year.
Last week, Senate Republicans blocked consideration of the entire jobs bill, arguing that it contained wasteful provisions and tax increases that would lead to the loss of jobs.
Among the provisions in the legislation the Senate is likely to consider soon is one that would give states about $35 billion to hire more teachers, police and firefighters. Its passage is not certain.
Mr. Obama said the next measure that he wants lawmakers to consider is infrastructure spending to improve roads, bridges and airports.
The Republicans are proposing their own jobs plan and a senior Republican senator has suggested that Republicans and Democrats should meet to see if they could “find a breakthrough.”
Republican Senator John McCain, who ran against Mr. Obama in the 2008 presidential election, on Monday unleashed his own criticism of the president for using taxpayer money for what McCain described as political campaigning.
