UPDATE:
Watch: Obama’s Full Speech On Jobs To Joint Session Of Congress (Video)
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President Obama’s Jobs Speech — Complete Text
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Obama’s Jobs Bill – White House Fact Sheet
Want to watch President Barack Obama’s jobs and economy speech in front of a joint session of Congress Thursday tonight? Here’s all the info you need to know to!
President Obama will address a joint session of Congress — the House and the Senate — tonight, Thursday.
WHEN: 7:00 – 8:30 PM ET
HOW and WHERE can I watch? You can watch Obama’s jobs speech live streaming right here (below!) or via C-SPAN.org online. The major TV networks, like MSNBC, NBC, ABC, and CBS — but not FOX — will carry the Obama speech live. Also, Spanish-language TV, NBC’s Telemundo and Univision will carry the speech. Check your local listings, or this link to TV Guide.
WILL this affect the game? No. The White House says Obama will be finished before the start of the first game of the 2011 football season, between the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints. (Yes, I had to look that up.)
WHAT will the President say? CBS News reports:
An extension of payroll-tax cuts. The current payroll-tax cut expires December 31. A renewal would mean a two percentage-point reduction for employees (from 6.2 percent Social Security payroll-tax to 4.2 percent). That comes to about $1,000 per household.
Cost: $120 billion
An extension of unemployment benefits. Congress has extended unemployment benefits several times before, but expect President Obama to call for another 99 week extension. Sources say the president will also propose a job-training program, similar to one in Georgia called Georgia Work$, where companies can take on workers receiving unemployment for a trial period.
Cost: $50 billion
New infrastructure spending. Obama wants to put job-seekers to work refurbishing roads, bridges and specifically, schools. His speech will likely include a major school renovation program, similar to a proposal that has been floating around Washington called FAST – Fix America’s Schools Today.
Cost: $100 billion
Aid for state and local governments and small business tax cuts. The local assistance will focus on keeping both teachers and first responders on payrolls.
Cost: $100 billion
A quick tally puts the proposal at $370 billion – so far. The final plan Mr. Obama puts forward tonight could contain an additional $30 billion or more. That last chunk may include some combination of the following:
A payroll tax cut for employers, targeted to employers who expand their payrolls; an “infrastructure bank” that would finance highway and rail projects; a mortgage initiative that makes it easier for homeowners to refinance and; ratification of pending trade deals in South Korea, Panama, and Colombia.
And as far as attendance, Speaker of the House John Boehner, who made Obama change the date for tonight’s speech from Wednesday to tonight, says his Republican colleagues “ought to be respectful,” according to The Huffington Post.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/modules/wh_multimedia/EOP_OVP_player.swf