Obama to ask Congress to pass ‘job package’ with tax credits for small business

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Today, with the first unemployment report of the new year showing that the old year ended with another 85,000 jobs lost, President Obama plans to call on Congress to pass a ‘job package’’ that would include tax credits encouraging small-business growth.’Today, the president will be talking about more tax credits, incentivizing small businesses to create more opportunities,’’ said Hilda Solis, secretary of the Department of Labor. ‘He is going to call on Congress to help put a job package together.... Today he will talk about tax incentives for small businesses, to look at retrofitting infrastructure.’’

The president plans an address from the East Room of the White House today at 11:40 a.m. Pacific time.

‘We’re focusing in on new, green manufacturing jobs,’’ Solis said this morning on the FOX Business Network. ‘I think that’s really going to be a telltale for us, creating new 21st-century jobs... We’re going to do everything in our tool box’’ to create new jobs.

The newest report released today shows unemployment holding at 10%, with 85,000 jobs lost in December.

‘I would call it consistent moderation.... We’ve actually seen a decrease of job loss overall,’’ Solis said. ‘This is the worst recession that we have been in.... Like any recovery, there are some ups and downs.’’

-- Mark Silva