WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is
pressing for passage of his full $447 billion jobs package in the face of
certain congressional defeat while embracing more modest administrative
remedies to the nation's sluggish economy and unwaveringly high unemployment.
Continuing his personal campaign for the
legislation, Obama was traveling to Pittsburgh Tuesday, making a plea for
support in a state crucial to his re-election hopes. At the same time, the
Senate was scheduled to vote on whether to proceed to the legislation — a step
that would require a 60-vote supermajority that was beyond reach.
Eager to demonstrate that his administration was
nevertheless taking steps to ease the economic crunch, Obama planned to join
his presidential jobs council of corporate and labor leaders in Pittsburgh as
they unveiled a report calling for sweeping and urgent changes in government
policies. The White House also was announcing steps to speed up environmental
and other regulatory approvals for 14 public works projects across the country.
Decrying the human toll of the nation's economic
and financial crisis, Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness is laying out
a series of policy overhauls sure to please and irritate Democratic and Republican
partisans alike, from liberalized immigration and greater spending on
infrastructure to less restrictive regulations and a more business-friendly tax
system.
Topping the council's list is a plea for
improvements in the nation's network of roads and bridges, for airport upgrades
and modernized ports, and for updated electric grids, water and wastewater
systems.
"If Washington can agree on anything, it
should be this — and it should be now," the report states.
While in Pittsburgh, Obama will tour an
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers training center. Later, Obama
will travel to Orlando, Fla., where he will attend fundraising events for his
presidential campaign and for the Democratic National Committee.
The 27-member jobs council is headed by General
Electric Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt, and includes AFL-CIO President
Richard Trumka, AOL co-founder Steve Case and Facebook chief operating officer
Sheryl Sandberg.
The 50-page report carefully avoids taking a stand
on Obama's $447 billion jobs package. Instead, it offers recommendations that
are bound to meet resistance from one party or the other.
The president, however, will probably find comfort
in the report's demand for new infrastructure. His jobs bill proposes spending
$30 billion to modernize schools and $50 billion on road and bridge projects.
The council's report calls on Congress to
reauthorize surface transportation legislation instead of simply approving
temporary extensions. It proposes additional ways of leveraging private sector
investment in public works projects, including a national infrastructure bank
that would be seeded with public money to attract private money — a proposal
that has bipartisan support and is also in Obama's job's bill.
To speed up projects, the council has recommended a
streamlined approval process that prevents delays over environmental reviews or
other permits.
As a start, the Obama administration on Monday
announced 14 major public works projects that will receive accelerated
environmental and permit reviews, with a goal of completing federal review
within 18 months. The projects include replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge
over the Hudson River in New York and a wind generation project in California's
San Bernardino National Forest.
The new review process incorporates the council's
recommendations, but it's also a nod to Republicans and the construction
industry. Both have long complained about government bureaucratic delays and
regulatory red tape.
Last June, Obama conceded that even public works
projects financed by his 2009 economic stimulus faced permitting delays.
"Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected," he said.
The projects listed by the administration include a
highway connector in Provo, Utah; a 14-mile rail transit line in and around
Baltimore; an Interstate 95 bridge over the Merrimack River in Massachusetts; a
light rail project extension near Los Angeles International Airport; and a
series of pending oil and gas applications for wells and pipelines in the
Dakota Prairie and Little Missouri National Grasslands in North and South
Dakota.
Another focus of the jobs council is increasing
entrepreneurship by reducing regulations and providing incentives for private
firms and startups to go public. It calls for eliminating capital gains taxes
on investments of $25 million or less in a privately held company so long as
that investment is held for at least five years. And it encourages new
graduates to take entrepreneurial risks by creating a student loan repayment
plan based on income.
It also steps into the politically charged debate
over immigration. It proposes eased immigration rules for high-skilled
foreigners, including automatic work permits or provisional visas to all
foreign students after they earn science, technology, engineering or math
degrees from U.S. colleges or universities.
"We are sympathetic to the political
sensitivities around the topic of immigration reform," the council report
states. "But when it comes to driving job creation and increasing American
competitiveness, separating the highly skilled worker component is critical. We
therefore call upon Congress to pass reforms aimed directly at allowing the
most promising foreign-born entrepreneurs to remain in or relocate to the
United States."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
