President Barack Obama welcomed a stronger than expected December unemployment report on Friday and urged Congress to extend a payroll tax cut until the end of 2012 to help the country’s economic recovery maintain momentum.
“We’re making progress. We’re moving in the right direction. And one of the reasons for this is the tax cut for working Americans that we put in place last year,” he said.
“When Congress returns they should extend the middle class tax cut for all of this year, to make sure we keep this recovery going,” he told workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to welcome its new director, Richard Cordray.
Obama appointed Cordray on Wednesday despite opposition from Republicans in the U.S. Senate.
Data earlier on Friday showed a 200,000 increase in December job creation that beat analyst expectations and helped bring the unemployment level down by a tenth of a percentage point to a still-historically high 8.5 percent.
The numbers are a boost for Obama as he seeks reelection in November. He must convince voters his policies are healing the economy after a savage recession, getting them to believe in a more promising future and forget the harsh recent past.
“We have made real progress. Now is not the time to stop, so I would urge Congress to make sure they stay on top of their jobs, to make sure that everybody else is able to enjoy hopefully an even more robust recovery in 2012,” Obama said.
