奥巴马提出促进就业计划

US President Barack Obama has urged lawmakers to back his ambitious proposals aimed at creating more jobs and cutting taxes.

美国总统奥巴马敦促立法者支持他创造更多就业岗位和削减税收的提议。

In a rare address to a joint¹ session of Congress, he said he wanted to get the unemployed² back to work, put money in employees' pockets and rebuild infrastructure³.

He urged lawmakers to pass the plan, worth almost $450bn (£282bn), promptly⁴.

Some Republican opponents have said the bill is Mr Obama's re-election plan.

US unemployment, currently jammed at 9.1%, is expected to dominate the 2012 presidential election campaign.

Hard-fought negotiations⁵

"I am sending this Congress a plan that you should pass right away. It's called the American Jobs Act," President Obama said in his speech late on Thursday.

"There should be nothing controversial about this piece of legislation. Everything in here is the kind of proposal that's been supported by both Democrats⁶ and Republicans - including many who sit here tonight. And everything in this bill will be paid for. Everything.

"The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: to put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of those who are working. It will create more jobs for construction workers, more jobs for teachers, more jobs for veterans, and more jobs for the long-term unemployed.

"It will provide a tax break for companies who hire new workers, and it will cut payroll⁷ taxes in half for every working American and every small business."

The president also said the proposals would help to further develop "a world-class transportation system" in the US and "repair and modernise⁸ at least 35,000 schools".

He pledged to urgently cut red tape, saying that "so far we've identified over 500 reforms, which will save billions of dollars over the next few years".