Obama Pushes ‘To-Do List’ For Congress
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JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — President Obama is urging lawmakers to put politics aside and act on his “handy to-do list” for Congress in order to sustain the economy’s momentum.
“One of the ways we can sustain momentum is for Congress to take some actions right now — even though it’s election season, even though there’s gridlock, even though there’s partisanship — take some actions right now that would really make a difference,” the president told small business owners during a visit to a local D.C. sandwich shop Wednesday morning.
President Obama called for lawmakers to pass legislation that would give small businesses a 10 percent income tax credit for hiring new employees or raising the salaries of existing employees, one of the five items on his wish list for Congress. The president’s action plan revolves around a series of economic initiatives he has been pushing for months, but that have gained little traction on Capitol Hill.
“My message to Congress… is let’s go ahead and act to help build and sustain momentum for our economy. There’ll be more than enough time for us to campaign and politick. But let’s make sure that we don’t… lose steam at a time when a lot of folks like these are feeling pretty optimistic,” Obama told the small group gathered at Taylor Gourmet.
The president made his pitch ahead of his White House meeting with Congressional leadership Wednesday afternoon. In addition to urging the leaders to act on his economic proposals, the president said he was “going to offer them hoagies while they’re there.”
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