Obama touts aid for emergency service workers

NORTH CHESTERFIELD, Va. (AP) — Heralding a splash of good news on jobs, President Barack Obama on Wednesday praised companies that have promised to hire 25,000 veterans or military spouses within two years, calling it a sign of patriotism and business savvy. He pushed his economic agenda anew to a military audience and to firefighters, with first lady Michelle Obama at his side for one of his stops.

"We ask you to fight, to sacrifice, to risk your lives for your country," Obama told an audience of thousands of people at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia. "The last thing you should have to do is fight for a job when you come home. Not here. Not in the United States of America."

Later in the day Obama repeated the pitch at a fire station in North Chesterfield, saying that veterans shouldn't return from service only to find themselves out of work. "We've got to do something about that. The question is why Congress isn't willing to move."

In the military setting, Obama's pitch for his jobs bill was far less partisan than it has been across his bus tour of North Carolina and Virginia. He didn't target at length the Republican lawmakers who have voted against his plan, promising more broadly to keep pushing Congress to pass a bill that's now been broken into pieces.

The president's day-long swing through Virginia does, however, have deep political undertones. Obama won the traditionally Republican-leaning state in 2008, but his poll numbers here are down, and some of the state's high-profile Democrats are staying away from the president's events.

The final day of Obama's bus tour had a different feel primarily because the Obamas were together as the president campaigned for his ideas and, in turn, for his re-election. The president and Mrs. Obama made a surprise stop at a roadside pumpkin patch, scooping up some orange and white pumpkins, apples and peanuts.

Then they stopped for lunch at Anna's Pizza and Italian Kitchen, having a meal with four veterans from different parts of the nation who had attended the earlier event at the base.

In their comments, Obama and the first lady both sought to assure veterans and their families that the country was behind them and that employers are, too. The American Logistics Association, which includes major companies like Tyson Foods Inc. and Coca-Cola Co., is pledging to hire 25,000 people by the end of 2013.

Michelle Obama called it the largest coordinated effort by the private sector to hire veterans that the nation has seen in years.

Mrs. Obama is leading a national campaign to rally the country around its veterans.

The president said that every company should want to hire veterans because of their leadership experience, mastery of cutting-edge technology and other skills. Obama is asking Congress to approve separate tax credits worth thousands of dollars for businesses that hire veterans who've been out of work for at least six months, including those with disabilities.

As Obama has been traveling, lawmakers back in Washington were taking the first steps to break his nearly $450 billion jobs bill into pieces for possible votes. It's the only way elements of the measure stand a chance of passing, given that Senate Republicans blocked action on the full package last week.

The bus trip has given the president the opportunity to promote elements of his jobs plan in places the White House says would benefit most should the measures pass.

Obama has spoken at high schools and community colleges where the administration says new spending would prevent teacher layoffs, as well as a small, regional area airport near Asheville, N.C., where Obama pressed for government funds to renovate an outdated runway.

Wednesday's stops were following a similar pattern.

Obama has proposed a Returning Heroes tax credit of up to $5,600 for businesses that hire unemployed veterans who have been out of work for six months or more, as well as a Wounded Warriors tax credit of nearly $10,000 for unemployed veterans with service-related disabilities who also have been looking for work for at least six months.

"When I talked about this part of the plan before the joint session of Congress, everybody rose up, Democrats and Republicans alike," Obama said about tax credits to encourage hiring of veterans. "So the question now is, if you all stood and applauded, how are you going to vote? It's not enough to applaud and go to a Veterans Day parade. People need help."

Obama's speech in North Chesterfield was the final scheduled stop on his three-day bus tour. He was returning to Washington later Wednesday.

Republicans have criticized Obama's bus trip as being more focused on selling the president's re-election than solving the country's economic woes. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday: ""Let's park the campaign bus, put away the talking points, and do something to address this jobs crisis."

Top Virginia Democrats, including Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb, were not expected to appear with the president Wednesday, nor was Tim Kaine, the former governor and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who is running to replace the retiring Webb.

However, Virginia's popular Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell did meet with the president Wednesday morning at Joint Base Langley-Eustis.

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