President Obama tells Congress to get to work

This week President Obama has a message for Congress: Get to work:

I sent Congress a jobs bill last September full of the kinds of bipartisan ideas that would have put our fellow Americans back to work and helped reinforce our economy against those outside shocks. I sent them a plan that would have reduced the deficit by $4 trillion in a way that's balanced ' that pays for the job-creating investments we need by cutting unnecessary spending and asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more in taxes.

Since then, Congress has only passed a few parts of that jobs bill ... And there's no excuse for that. Not when so many people are looking for work. Not when so many people are struggling to pay the bills.

So my message to Congress is, get to work.

Pointing out that Congress'or more to the point'Republicans could: help states prevent layoffs; put teachers, firefights and police officers back to work; improve our infrastructure; give tax breaks that would help small businesses; help homeowners refinance their mortgages; vote for equal pay for equal work; promote clean energy, and of course, stop giving tax breaks to corporations that outsource jobs, the president concludes by pointing out the obvious and wishing for the impossible:

It's not lost on anyone, least of all me, that this is an election year. But we've got responsibilities that are bigger than an election. We've got responsibilities to you. With so many people struggling to get by, now is not the time to play politics. Now is not the time for Congress to sit on its hands. The American people expect their leaders to work hard, no matter what year it is. That's what I intend to do. And I expect Democrats and Republicans to join me.

Complete transcript below the fold.