Politics
Obama continues to push for payroll tax cuts
Obama also took note of a new monthly jobs report out Friday that showed the economy added 120,000 jobs in November, a positive number. “We need to keep this growth going and strengthen it,” the president said.
Republicans devoted their weekly address to promoting a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, which is headed for a vote in the Senate after failing in the House last month.
Democratic leaders worked aggressively to defeat the measure in the House, saying that such a requirement could force Congress to cut billions from social programs during times of economic downturn and that disputes over what to cut could result in Congress ceding its power of the purse to the courts.
The result was that the amendment got majority support but fell short of the two-thirds needed to advance a constitutional amendment.
Senator Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said “the impending vote to amend the Constitution represents a choice between changing business as usual in Washington or embracing the status quo that we can no longer afford.”
“The real reason many lawmakers don’t want a balanced budget amendment is the exact reason why it’s so essential,” Snowe said. “They don’t want their hands tied; they want to continue to spend without restraint.”
Like Obama, she asked listeners to make their views known.
“Contact your senators and urge them to support our balanced budget amendment,” Snowe said, “so that we finally seize the fiscal reins and reclaim our future for our children and our grandchildren.”
Copyright 2011. The Associated Press
