Obama: GOP leaders 'obstruct our progress'

WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Saturday said Senate Republican leaders "too often … filibuster our recovery and obstruct our progress."

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama noted many U.S. corporations reported "robust earning" during the past week but said small businesses still face tight credit and the long-term unemployed "still wonder how they'll make ends meet" in the worst recession since the Great Depression.

He said his administration and congressional Democrats have been trying for months "to take new, commonsense steps to help small businesses, grow our economy, and create jobs."

"But too often, the Republican leadership in the United States Senate chooses to filibuster our recovery and obstruct our progress," he said. "And that has very real consequences."

Noting that small businesses are responsible for creating two out of every three new jobs, Obama said the administration has proposed helping small businesses obtain loans and capital.

"But again and again, a partisan minority in the Senate said 'no,' and used procedural tactics to block a simple, up-or-down vote," Obama said.

He said Senate Republicans have used the filibuster three times to block extending unemployment insurance -- resulting in a cutoff of benefits to more than 2 million people during the past several weeks.

"And every day this goes on, another 50,000 Americans lose that badly needed lifeline," he said.

The president said extending credit to small businesses and renewing unemployment insurance "aren't just the right thing to do for those hardest hit by the recession -- they're the right thing to do for all of us."

"And I'm calling on Congress once more to take these steps on behalf of America's workers, and families, and small business owners -- the people we were sent here to serve," he said.