President Obama is set to lay out the specifics of his job-creation program in a speech at the Brookings Institution on Tuesday. On the heels of his jobs summit yesterday, Obama is facing political pressure to come up with concrete plan to combat unemployment, Politico's Mike Allen reports.
The details of Obama's jobs initiative are still unclear, and White House spokesman Robert Gibbs has said that the administration won't push for a second "stimulus package."
But Allen reports that the White House is now leaning towards an initiative that would go through Congress, and Gibbs repeated today that the administration is "actively looking at" ways to use repaid TARP funds to spur job creation. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) has backed the use of TARP funds to boost the job market, while House Republican leader John Boehner (Ohio) has called for the funds to be used to pay down the deficit.
The White House has not released details yet on how this will happen -- or what effect it will have on the U.S. budget deficit. On his Twitter feed, Fox News's Major Garret reports that the Obama administration may just leave us in the dark until Tues: "I asked Gibbs if jobs bill will b deficit neutral, how much it will cost & if it's a 1-year plan. Said wait 4 Tues Obama speech 4 answers."
Gibbs also addressed today's job numbers, which showed a modest decline in the national unemployment rate. Here's Gibbs: "The numbers today show that we continue to make much needed progress in getting this economy going again. We are clearly moving in the right direction."