Obama Urges Senate to Pass Small Business Jobs Act

(NewsCore) - President Barack Obama Monday repeated his call for Senate Republicans to ’drop the blockade’ against the Small Business Jobs Act when the Senate returns from its August recess.

Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, the president stated that the legislation is ’fully paid for’ and would not add to the deficit. He said the bill would cut taxes for small businesses and make more loans available.

’Holding this bill hostage is directly detrimental to our economic growth,’ he said, adding some businesses are waiting for the bill to pass to hire more employees.

The bill failed to move to debate in the Senate at the end of July. Democrats have said the bill is part of a broader effort to create jobs, but opponents have said it would use taxpayer money to encourage banks to take risks.

Obama’s statement came on the heels of a bit of good economic news. Earlier Monday, the Commerce Department said personal spending edged up .4 percent in July, the largest gain in four months, according to MarketWatch. However, personal income climbed .2 percent, failing to meet economists’ expectations.

On Sunday, Obama said he was focused on communicating optimism to the American people.

’[A]s I look forward, my central focus is going to be to make sure that I'm constantly communicating with all segments of this country about why I feel optimistic about our future,’ Obama told NBC’s Brian Williams in an interview in New Orleans.

’[O]ne of the actual great things about America -- as I was doing some historical reading during the break -- is we kind of go through these periods during difficult times where we think we're falling behind ’ We do a lot of soul searching. And then usually we come out of that funk and it's precisely because we do some self-reflection.’

Speaking Monday, Obama said his administration ’remains focused’ on working to push the economy forward, repair the damage done to the middle class and promote growth.

’As Congress prepares to return to session, my economic team is hard at work in identifying additional measures that could make a difference both in promoting growth and hiring in the short term and increasing our economy’s competitiveness in the long term,’ Obama said.