Reporting from Washington - President Obama today proposed to spend money on job creation available because of smaller than expected corporate bailouts, in part by building roads, expanding credit for small business and encouraging energy-efficient home projects.
In a morning address at a nonpartisan Washington think tank, Obama unveiled a mix of proposals that he said would generate the greatest number of jobs while generating the greatest value for the economy.
"There is only so much government can do," Obama said. "Job creation will ultimately depend on the real job creators: businesses across America. But government can help lay the groundwork on which the private sector can better generate jobs, growth and innovation."
The total financial cost of the proposal hasn't been determined, according to administration officials familiar with the package that the president described. Obama only meant to draw the broad strokes of the overall plan, said one, adding that the White House plans to work with members of Congress to determine the size and scale of many of the components.
But administration sources suggested the cost would be partly -- and possibly mostly -- offset by $200 billion which the federal government was supposed to lose on the Troubled Assets Relief Program but now expects to recoup.
"That means we have space to do these proposals and to have a lower deficit than what we were expecting," said one administration official who requested anonymity to speak about the thinking at the White House.
In his morning speech at the Brookings Institution, Obama called for tax cuts to encourage additional business investments next year, with a particular focus on struggling small business.
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