Obama proposes tax hikes to pay for jobs bill

US President Barack Obama signalled on Monday he would pay for his $447 billion dollar jobs plan by raising taxes on the rich and energy corporations and demanded that Congress pass it right away.

The president, seeking to reset his under-pressure presidency and slice away at 9.1 percent unemployment, sent the bill to lawmakers and warned Republicans not to slow it down with "political games" at a time of great national urgency.

But Obama, by deciding to finance the bill by ending tax breaks for oil and gas firms and individuals earning over $200,000, set up a new showdown with his political foes - who have already rejected such methods in the past.

The president, who has promised to fight for the bill in every corner of the country, gathered firefighters and teachers who he said would be helped by the bill on Monday in the White House Rose Garden.

"This is a bill that will put people back to work all across the country. This is a bill that will help our economy in a moment of national crisis," Obama said.

"This is a bill that Congress needs to pass. No games. No politics. No delays."

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