Dallas: US President Barack Obama challenged Republican leaders in Congress to put his entire $447 billion jobs plan to a vote, rather than breaking it up, to show where each lawmaker stands.
Obama, seeking re-election in November 2012, sent long-delayed bills for free trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama to a seemingly receptive Congress on Monday but the mood in Washington has otherwise been fractious as his jobs package comes apart at the seams.
"The Republican majority leader in Congress, Eric Cantor, said that right now, he won't even let the jobs bill have a vote in the House of Representatives. He won't even give it a vote," according to excerpts released by the White House of a speech Obama will give in Texas on Tuesday.
"Well I'd like Mr Cantor to come down here to Dallas and explain what in this jobs bill he doesn't believe in," the speech says. "And if you won't do that, at least put this jobs bill up for a vote so that the entire country knows exactly where every member of Congress stands."
Cantor fired back, asking whether Obama would promise not to veto Republican jobs proposals in their entirety.
Obama, who pushed through an $800 billion stimulus package in 2009, has taken a hit to his approval ratings over high unemployment and fears of a return to recession. Americas are even less impressed with Congress, opinion polls show.
Republicans say the president's jobs plan, a mix of stimulus spending and tax cuts for workers and employers, will never clear Congress as a package but that some elements are worth considering.
"President Obama needs to understand that his 'my way or the highway' approach simply isn't going to work in the House or the Democratic Senate, especially in light of his abysmal record on jobs," Cantor said in a statement.
"Republicans are trying to work together despite our disagreements, why isn't the president?"
Obama also faces resistance from some fellow Democrats over tax hikes he proposed to pay for the jobs plan, including the end of tax breaks for oil companies and corporate jet owners.
That means the plan does not have the 60 votes it needs to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate, let alone in the House where Republicans have a majority.
Obama said on Monday he expected there to be a vote on the bill or parts of it this month, even as he pressed lawmakers to pass the whole package.
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