President Obama recently urged voters to contact their local senators to ask for a push of support for his $447 billion jobs package. He feels that the more support he can get from the voters the easier it will be to push the package through Senate. There is currently a mix of opinions on the jobs package. The president believes that it will give the boost that the U.S. economy needs to move in the right direction and prevent any economic downturns.

On October 7, 2010, Obama held a meeting with the Democratic leaders of the Senate. They discussed the unemployment rate that stayed at 9.1 percent the previous month, possible cuts in taxation and a strategy to gain support for his jobs package.

The president has asked for all of the jobs package opponents to state why they are opposed to the package. Many are opposed to giving help to the states directly, to the $105 billion that will be spent on different infrastructure projects and certain payroll tax cuts. The president would like detailed opposition that explains what the problems are and what changes his opponents feel could and should be made.

Obama has stood by the plan to increase the taxes that the wealthy pay and has stated that he feels that the increase would greatly assist the nation’s economic state. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that a surtax of 5.6 percent for anyone earning over $1 million would produce $453 billion in profit.

The wealthy are currently not paying the same taxes that the average worker is paying. Electricians and teachers are paying higher tax rates than the millionaires and even the billionaires are paying in the U.S. The president insists that the jobs package will simply ask the wealthy to pay the same taxes as the rest of the American public. He believes that increasing the amount of taxes the wealthy pay will help to be able to establish more jobs for the average worker such as teachers or contractors. The president urges that we need to choose one way or the other when it comes to taxes. We can either tax or give tax cuts to the wealthy. He states that we cannot cut taxes for the average American if we are giving breaks to the wealthiest because it will not even out. Some members of the House feel that the president’s jobs package may be nothing more than a political ploy to boost his possibility of reelection. They feel that he is saying whatever he can to get the votes he needs to be reelected.

Some Democrats in the Senate have already rejected parts of the jobs package because they feel that it is flawed. They claim that since Obama has become president the economy has taken a huge downturn. In order for the economy to turn around some members of the House, feel that the jobs package needs to be complete reconstructed or at least have some major elements refined before they will approve it.