Obama to unveil economic plan in Sept speech
ATKINSON. August 18. KAZINFORM US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he will propose a plan in September to jump-start the US economy as he struggles to convince skeptical voters that he has something new to offer; Kazinform refers to China Daily.
Obama, with his approval ratings falling, is set to propose short-term measures to boost hiring and call on a congressional panel to deliver more than the $1.5 trillion in savings by November 23, partly through increased tax revenue.
"When Congress gets back in September, my basic argument to them is this: we should not have to choose between getting our fiscal house in order and jobs and growth. We can't afford to do just one or the other, we've got to do both," Obama said at a town-hall style meeting in Illinois.
The White House offered scant details on what new initiatives Obama would offer to keep the economy from diving back into recession.
In a television interview, Obama said another recession was unlikely but expressed concern about the slow pace of growth.
"I don't think we're in danger of another recession, but we are in danger of not having a recovery that is fast enough to deal with a genuine unemployment crisis for a whole lot of folks out there," he said in excerpts in a CBS interview airing on Sunday. "And that's why we need to be doing more."
A Gallup poll published on Wednesday found a new low of 26 percent of Americans approve of Obama's handling of the economy, down 11 percentage points since mid-May.
Administration officials said September's economic plan was still a work in progress but new measures could include tax breaks and spending through construction projects.
Obama's insistence that higher taxes be a part of any long-term effort to improve America's fiscal health and his push to spend more now to bolster the labor market could mean his proposals go nowhere.
But while both parties remain deeply divided, there may be a new opening for Republicans and Democrats to compromise.
Intense public anger over the debt-limit fight, growing pressure from Big Business to tackle deficits and even consider tax hikes, data showing surprising economic weakness, a wildly gyrating stock market and the loss of America's AAA debt rating could force both sides off their unyielding positions.