A politically imperiled President Obama called on lawmakers Thursday night to approve another stimulus plan to create jobs, many for his union base, while adding about $450 billion to next year’s budget.
“I am sending this Congress a plan that you should pass right away,” a defiant Mr. Obama told a joint session of the House and Senate. He urged lawmakers to “stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy.”
The president, whose job-approval ratings are his lowest ever, announced a package of proposals that is likely to be his last major effort to create jobs before the 2012 presidential campaign swings into high gear.
Among the proposals he outlined are extending unemployment benefits, worth about $50 billion; boosting spending on construction projects by about $100 billion; giving $35 billion to states to keep teachers on the job; and providing another round of payroll-tax cuts for workers and employers.
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