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President Obama on Monday challenged Congress to pass his American Jobs Act, a $447 billion dollar stimulus package designed to put Americans back to work at a time when the official unemployment rate teeters at 9% and stagnant job growth is rekindling fears of a recession. Obama first announced details of his plan in a strongly worded address to a Joint Session of Congress last Thursday. In summary, the American Jobs Act includes funding for large-scale infrastructure projects; incentives for small businesses to hire and expand production; plans to hire more teachers, first responders, and veterans; extensions on unemployment benefits, cutting payroll taxes, and incentives for universities and schools to train more engineers and skilled workers. Obama has generally left the drafting of important legislation up to Congress, announcing only in broad strokes his policy goals. But with his poll numbers slumping the president has taken ownership of the jobs bill and sent a detailed draft to Congress with the admonition: “No games, no politics, no delays.” As expected, the real fight may come over how to pay for the stimulus package. The White House claims the bill “won’t add a dime to the deficit” because the bill will be paid for by a balanced deficit reduction program and closed loopholes on corporations and wealthy individuals. Republican lawmakers say tax cuts and other similar measures are a non-starter. They say the best way to create jobs is for government to step out of the way.

GUEST: Doug Henwood, author of “After the New Economy,” and editor of “Left Business Observer,” host of a Pacifica weekly program called Behind the News

Read more at www.leftbusinessobserver.com, and www.lbo-news.com.