On a bus tour covering parts of North Carolina and Virginia, President Barack Obama paid a visit to Jamestown after spending the previous night in Greensboro.  The purpose of these appearances is to discuss The American Jobs Act with local residents.  Although this official visit by the President was billed as being closed to the public, more than 500 tickets were distributed to local residents, politicians and dignitaries to hear the President speak. 

Obama arrived at the Mary Perry Ragsdale YMCA in Jamestown on an armored bus.  The President was received with roaring applause and cheers.  He thanked teachers in attendance for their commitment and said he was impressed by the extraordinary work of faculty at nearby Guilford Technical Community College. As for why the President and his advisors chose towns in N.C. with a heavy Republican presence as tour stops, Obama said, “I’m not the Democratic or the Republican president, I’m the President.  I don’t care if you’re Democrat or Republican, we’re all Americans.”

This tour was also an opportunity for the President to reach out to the public for help in getting a jobs bill passed.  Obama encouraged those in attendance to call or write their Congressional representative to help garner support.  The President stated, “The economic crisis facing the U.S. was not created overnight and it won’t be solved overnight.” He put the need for jobs in perspective by explaining that a lot of people are looking for work while some are postponing retirement primarily based on the state of the economy.

Last week the entire Republican majority of the U.S. Senate voted against the Obama plan to generate jobs, while having an alternative plan which does not address the jobs crisis.  Obama said the Republican plan permits Wall Street  to write its own rules, rolls back federal environmental legislation, allows for more oil drilling and repeals healthcare reform.  “That’s a plan but it’s not a jobs plan,” said the President.  “If they (Republicans) continue to vote against steps to put people back to work, they won’t have to answer to me, they will have to answer to you.”

Obama explained that the proposals in the American Jobs Act have had bipartisan support in the past, but now that these initiatives are being proposed by the Democratic president, Republicans have indicated they have no plans of working in a bipartisan manner with President Obama. 

Obama added that if the jobs bill, which includes a payroll tax cut extension, is not passed, the taxes of most people would increase on average by $1,000.

The President’s jobs plan would be paid for by asking those who make more than $1 million per year to pay their fair share in taxes.  Recent polls have shown that 60 percent of people support a job creation plan that would help jump start the economy.

The Jobs Act proposed by the President includes implementing tax cuts to help America’s small businesses hire and grow.  The plan proposes to put workers back on the job while rebuilding and modernizing America and it will create pathways back to work for Americans looking for jobs.  The President’s plan also provides tax relief for every American worker and family and it is fully paid for as part of the President’s long-term deficit reduction plan.

Obama said this plan would put teachers in the classroom, construction workers to work and add more police officers and firefighters to the workforce across the country.  Passage of the jobs bill is projected to lead to 13,000 education jobs in North Carolina.

Although the bill was recently voted down by the Republican controlled U.S. Senate, the Obama Administration has a plan.  The administration plans to break the bill up into pieces and let Congress vote on it one piece at a time.  The first vote on the split-up jobs bill will take place later this week.

“Too many of us are hurting,” said Obama. “We must create jobs, restore the middle class and reduce the deficit.  That’s the spirit we need to muster.”