US President Barack Obama takes his job bill message to union workers and chides Congressional Republicans for failing to pass his infrastructure spending bills and for supporting tax cuts for the richest Americans.
As President Obama walked on stage, labour leaders and union workers attending the construction conference greeted him with chants of "four more years".
The President advocated simultaneously paying down debt and increasing government expenditures on rebuilding the country's infrastructure.
"It is time we take some of the money that we spent on wars, use half of it to pay down our debt and then use the rest of it to do some nation-building right here at home," Mr Obama told the Washington audience.
He went on to criticise House Republicans for failing to pass the Senate's bipartisan two-year $109 billion £(67bn) transportation bill to rebuild roads, bridges and rail systems.
"Used to be the easiest bill to pass in Washington used to be get roads and bridges built because it's not like only Democrats are allowed to use these things. Everybody's permitted. Everybody needs them," he said to laughter.
According to Senate Democrats, some 1.8 million construction workers could face layoffs if the bill is not passed.
The President also said a budget proposed by House Republicans includes $4.6 trillion (£2.8tn) in lower taxes for millionaires and billionaires over the next 10 years and he accused his opponents of thinking about the next election instead of American families.
With unemployment still relatively high and growth showing signs of slowing, Mr Obama is under pressure to defend his string of big budget deficits and prove the soundness of his proposals to keep spending on infrastructure, clean energy and education and to raise taxes on the very rich.
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