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Obama pushes Jobs Act

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Written by Catherine Swift, Editor-in-Chief

Air Force One glided down onto the landing strip at the Asheville Airport and the cameras in the crowd shot up. Around 2,000 people craned their necks to catch a glimpse of President Barack Obama as he stepped off the plane. Within a few minutes the president was standing on a stage in the middle of the crowd. After praising Asheville and introducing Sen. Kay Hagan and Mayor Terry Bellamy, President Obama began the campaign for his American Jobs Act.

“When you hear what’s going on out in the country, when you take the time to listen, you understand that a lot of folks are hurting out there. Too many people are looking for work,” Obama said. His speech, which took place on Monday, Oct. 17, was meant to kick off his bus tour through North Carolina and Virginia. The tour was planned to promote his American Jobs Act, which Congress blocked the week prior to his speech.

The Jobs Act includes multiple strategies intended to create jobs and put money back into the economy. The bill has five major sections, but Obama told the crowd he was going to split it apart before he re-introduced it to Congress.

“Maybe they just couldn’t understand the whole at once, so we’re going to break it up into bite-sized pieces so they can take a thoughtful approach to this legislation,” Obama said. On Nov. 10, his plan was successful in passing a piece of the bill in the senate that will provide tax cuts for businesses that hire veterans.

Obama intends to pay for the American Jobs Act by raising taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, a plan which causes much of the controversy keeping other sections of the bill from moving forward in Congress. Some also contend that because there is so little chance of it passing in its entirety, the entire bill is nothing more than a campaigning strategy.