US President Barack Obama called on Wednesday for new job-creation measures that are likely to further complicate talks with Republicans to bring the country's debt under control. Obama said Congress should approve loans to encourage construction spending and consider a payroll tax break and other measures to bring down the 9.1 percent unemployment rate.
"It makes perfect sense for us to take a look at, can we extend the payroll tax, for example, an additional year, and other tax breaks for business investment that could make a big difference in terms of creating more jobs right now," he told a White House news conference.
Those measures likely would add hundreds of billions of dollars to budget deficits at a time when the White House and lawmakers are trying to narrow them by more than $1 trillion. Congressional Republicans oppose those measures and say they have no place in the talks. "In the middle of a debt crisis, they want to borrow and spend more money as a solution to the problem. This isn't a negotiation, this is a parody," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said earlier on the Senate floor.
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