Less than a week after a dismal jobs report jolted his campaign for re-election, President Obama is out with a new ad that tries to shift the blame to Congress.
In a 30-second spot, entitled “Jobs,” the president says in a speech: “We’re still fighting our way back from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”
"The president’s job plan would put teachers, firefighters, police officers and construction workers back to work right now," a narrator says.
In the ad, the president calls for Congress to pass the stalled American Jobs Act, a $447 billion plan the president proposed last year which aims a large portion of its spending toward infrastructure projects, extending unemployment benefits and an extension and expansion of the cut in payroll taxes, worth $240 billion. Congress eventually passed several elements of the bill, including the unemployment aid and the payroll tax cut.
A narrator says that “it’s paid for by asking for the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more.” The legislation would have imposed new limits for itemized deductions for individuals who earn more than $200,000 per year and families earning more than $250,000.
“But Congress refuses to act,” the narrator continues. “Tell Congress we can’t wait.”
The legislation failed in in the Senate last October, as a unified Republican caucus and two Democrats blocked the measure from proceeding to full consideration.
The ad will air in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, according to the campaign.
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