President Obama touted the newly-signed highway bill as a potential economic booster, while a Republican congresswoman called for the repeal of the healthcare reform law in dueling addresses on the economy Saturday.The president returned from the campaign trail Friday evening to sign a $105-billion transportation measure that enjoyed rare bipartisan support in Congress. The measure, which extended highway and transit spending at current levels through the end of the 2014 fiscal year, also averts an imminent hike in some student loan interest rates, a priority of the president's this year.
In his video message, recorded between campaign stops in Ohio Thursday and released Saturday, the president said the new law "will make a real difference in the lives of millions of Americans."
But, in an acknowledgment of continued economic instability, Obama said there was "more to do." The monthly jobs report Friday, which showed the economy added just 80,000 jobs in June, only served to reinforce that point.
Obama urged lawmakers to further reform and expand financial aid for students and provide additional funds for job training through partnerships between community colleges and businesses.
"In America, a higher education cannot be a luxury reserved for just a privileged few. It’s an economic necessity that every American family should be able to afford," he said.
The Republican address, delivered by first-term New York Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle, called Friday's data "the latest in a string of bad news about the economy," and said the president is only "doubling down on policies that are holding us back and making things worse."
And she returned to the issue of Obama's landmark health reform, which she said "fosters a climate of uncertainty and instability throughout our economy."
"The [Supreme] Court's decision and yesterday's jobs report add to the urgency of repealing the president's healthcare law in its entirety, and next week the House will vote to do just that," she said. That vote is planned Wednesday.
"Repealing it would revitalize our economy and the values upon which our country was founded," she said.
The House will also vote on Republican legislation that would further roll back regulations that Buerkle said were stifling job growth, and urged Obama and Congressional Democrats to support them.
Obama, who finished his two-day bus tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania Friday, will return to the campaign trail Tuesday in Iowa, with additional stops at week's end in Virginia.
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In his video message, recorded between campaign stops in Ohio Thursday and released Saturday, the president said the new law "will make a real difference in the lives of millions of Americans."
But, in an acknowledgment of continued economic instability, Obama said there was "more to do." The monthly jobs report Friday, which showed the economy added just 80,000 jobs in June, only served to reinforce that point.
Obama urged lawmakers to further reform and expand financial aid for students and provide additional funds for job training through partnerships between community colleges and businesses.
"In America, a higher education cannot be a luxury reserved for just a privileged few. It’s an economic necessity that every American family should be able to afford," he said.
The Republican address, delivered by first-term New York Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle, called Friday's data "the latest in a string of bad news about the economy," and said the president is only "doubling down on policies that are holding us back and making things worse."
And she returned to the issue of Obama's landmark health reform, which she said "fosters a climate of uncertainty and instability throughout our economy."
"The [Supreme] Court's decision and yesterday's jobs report add to the urgency of repealing the president's healthcare law in its entirety, and next week the House will vote to do just that," she said. That vote is planned Wednesday.
"Repealing it would revitalize our economy and the values upon which our country was founded," she said.
The House will also vote on Republican legislation that would further roll back regulations that Buerkle said were stifling job growth, and urged Obama and Congressional Democrats to support them.
Obama, who finished his two-day bus tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania Friday, will return to the campaign trail Tuesday in Iowa, with additional stops at week's end in Virginia.
[email protected]