Obama praises Congress for payroll tax cut extension, but says "don't stop here"

In remarks celebrating the passage last week of a bill extending the payroll tax cut, President Obama on Tuesday praised the rare moment of bipartisanship in Congress -- and urged lawmakers to continue supporting similar measures aimed at helping the middle-class.

"My message to Congress is, don't stop here," Mr. Obama said, speaking in front a handful of Americans who will benefit from the bill. "Keep taking the action that people are calling for."

After extended bickering on the matter late last year, Congress on Thursday approved a $144 billion package to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance through the end of 2012, putting differences aside in a rare display of bipartisanship.

The original payroll tax break in 2011 cut two percent from payroll taxes used to pay for Social Security, lowering the tax rate for 160 million Americans. The tax break was extended for two months at the end of last year, and the new bill is an extension for the rest 2012. The average worker receives a $1,000 tax break over the course of the year due to the tax cut.

"For the typical American family, it's a big deal. It means $40 extra in their paycheck. And that $40 helps to pay the rent, the groceries, the rising cost of gas, which is on a lot of people's minds right now," said Mr. Obama, who was joined by Vice President Joe Biden. "More people spending more money means more businesses will be able to hire more workers - and the entire economy gets another boost."

"Congress did the right thing," he said.

Mr. Obama praised lawmakers for listening "to the voices of the American people," but reminded voters that he had been attempting to push the payroll tax cut extension through Congress for months.

"You will remember, I called on Congress to pass this middle class tax cut back in September as part of my broader jobs plan," he said.

He added: "In the end, everyone acted in the interest of the middle class, and people who are striving to get into the middle class through hard work, and that's how it should be. That's what Americans expect, and that's what Americans deserve."

Mr. Obama's jobs plan stalled in Congress last fall, but he has vowed to push its various components through the House and Senate piecemeal. He has also used his executive powers to act independently of Congress when possible.

Still, the president said Tuesday, he needs Congress' help.

"We're doing what we can administratively" to assist struggling homeowners and unemployed Americans, Mr. Obama said, but argued that in order to extend benefits to a larger number of Americans, "we need Congress to do it."

"This may be an election year but the American people have no patience for gridlock and just the reflexive partisanship and paying attention to poll numbers and the next election instead of the next generation," he said. "Americans don't have the luxury to put off tough decisions, and neither should we."

Mr. Obama has not yet signed the bill because Congress has not yet sent it to him.

[Sanjaybosemumbi]

DON'T worry not only manufacturing jobs but also jobs like in service sector jobs , management level jobs, financial sector , banking , insurance , legal, pharma , Programming , software , Information Technology (IT) , Media , Animation l etc etc thousand of them r going to be outsourced overseas , (watch that YouTube link too).

The dip in unemployment rate is temporarily and its cooked for election 2012 ,
after election it will be risen considerably in tow digits (and don t forget about the quality of jobs).

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20111221-707599.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhzMEtD349Y

This current Call Centre bill And American jobs Act will be also not passed , same as previous outsourcing bill which was dead.Its an Election gimmick , with nexus of corporate s (wall street ) and government to fool people , and they r damn sure that this will too not pass very damn sure , infact Morgan Stanley and jp morgan chase (these both got large amount Bailout from fed (tax money)) is going to cut more jobs in US around most of them and they will will transferred to India , they want to transfer about 92 % more jobs outside , A mortgage company OCWEN FINANCIAL which has 90 % of jobs outsourced overseas ( India and some to Uruguay ) r buying more mortgage companies like LITTON from Goldman sachs and HomeEq servicing from Braclays and together with Altisource etc and transfer there jobs to overseas too ( mostly all of them ) same with IBM and other companies. so most of american companies will be employing overseas people in future ( might be 95 % of workforce). jobs of authors , contents writers , editors , copy writers etc etc will also be going to be outsourced so u too get ready to find other job in Mac Donald or wall-mart And all your jobs r here , Below in this links.;.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/199601616?pgno=2&queryText

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_India

http://modernpatriot.blogspot.com/

http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=28624

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticlepaged/articleid/5640311/pageid/2

Now JP Morgan chase will cut more jobs and outsource (transfer most of the jobs to overseas), most of there work force , so ready to get fired.

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2009/gb2009039_431274.htm

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-02-14/news/28540403_1_government-bailouts-outsource-top-banks

http://www.managementparadise.com/forums/job-offers-recruitments-placements/75-jp-morgan-chase-backoffice-mumbai-looking-you.html

http://jobsearch.monsterindia.com/searchresult.html?co=xjpmcinx&loc=8

http://www.simplyhired.co.in/a/jobs/list/c-j.p.+morgan+chase

[tsigili]

Obama is the most fiscally irresponsible President, this country has EVER seen!!!

[ge556]

That must be why he's turning around the mess Bush left.

[Dmorris_Engage_America]

Extending the payroll tax cut won't solve our long-term jobs problem .http://eng.am/zVZZPI

Simply put, tax holidays don't work. http://******/o2tLOH

The reason this particular tax holiday is poor economic policy is that it is not specifically targeted to those with the most need; high-income earners will also receive the tax cut. http://******/uvIDMJ

Not to mention, promoting continued reduced payment into Social Security is the same as telling people it's a good idea to borrow from their retirement and spend the money now. http://onforb.es/tfw4BN

[wfw3536]

The headline should read, Obama throws seniors under the bus for a second year in a row. The Flat tax is to support the Social Security fund which by the way will only be able to pay seniors 60 to 70% of what they are eligible for within the next 10 to 12 years. Seniors better wake up if they think Obama will stop this after two years, Oh and don't forget Obama said this was only for one year(another broken promise), this cutting in the Social Security will continue for years to come as Obama could care less about seniors.

[js2212]

"Mr. Obama's jobs plan stalled in Congress last fall"

This is known as framing a fact without giving all the facts. The jobs bill failed not because it stalled in Congress. If failed because it contained spending measures that are unstustainable and Republicans rightly shot it down. Obama was warned not to submit such a bill and he did anyway in a purely political attempt to pin blame on Congress. CBS is assisting him in that effort here.

The tone of the article skews blame away from Obama, where it belongs, and points the reader of low intelligence to think it's Congress' fault.