Obama urges bipartisanship, jobs bill in surprise presser (Roundup)

Feb 9, 2010, 19:56 GMT

Washington - President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged both political parties to end a year of bitter disputes and work more closely to restart the struggling US labour market, tackle health care reform and cut the country's burgeoning budget deficit.

With Republicans emboldened by a shock election victory last month, Obama refused to capitulate on his domestic priorities and called out the opposition for making too few compromises on major legislation. There must be more 'give and take' in the coming year.

'There are legitimate and genuine differences between the parties,' Obama said during a surprise press conference at the White House. But 'there are many issues upon which we can and should agree.'

Republican Scott Brown captured the Senate seat of the late Democratic icon Ted Kennedy in a special election in left-leaning Massachusetts last month, robbing Democrats of their super-majority in the Senate and imperiling much of Obama's domestic agenda.

Obama met with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders earlier Tuesday in the hopes of ironing out differences over how to jumpstart job growth and a revive a bipartisan effort to reduce US debt levels.

The US Senate could vote this weekend on legislation to encourage hiring and help bring the US unemployment rate down from 9.7 per cent. The bill may boost some infrastructure spending and offer smaller businesses tax incentives to hire new workers.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the chamber, said after the White House meeting that there was 'a chance' conservatives could back the bill. The House of Representatives passed its own 150-billion-dollar jobs stimulus in December.

Obama said it was likely that any jobs package would have to be passed in increments, part of an effort to build 'trust' between lawmakers who have been at loggerheads with each other during much of Obama's first term.

'What we'd like to see is the ability of Congress to move forward in a bipartisan fashion on some of the key challenges that the country is facing right now,' Obama said at the top of the White House meeting with leading lawmakers.

The two parties have been at odds on everything from health care to the economy, climate change and financial regulation. Republicans have been bolstered by public anger over the sluggish economic recovery, dangerously high debt levels and a protracted health care debate over the past year.

Obama acknowledged the US public had become 'frustrated' with the lack of progress in Washington and said he was confident there were at least some areas of agreement on aiding small business hiring and reining in US debt levels.

The president on Sunday invited lawmakers from both parties to a February 25 summit to revive health care reform, his top domestic priority, which has been fiercely opposed by conservatives and largely derailed by the Massachusetts election.