Plouffe: Jobs bill could pass by October

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama's American Jobs Act has a good chance of being passed in its entirety by October, senior adviser David Plouffe said Sunday.

Despite some negative reaction on the part of Democrats and Republicans alike, Plouffe said on ABC's "This Week" that the groups the bill would benefit -- teachers, small businesses and schools -- traditionally have had bipartisan support.

"This has tax cuts for every small business and every worker, rehiring teachers, modernizing our schools, helping rebuild our infrastructure, all things that can help the economy in the short term and are important for our long-term economic future," he said.

In response to economist Mark Zandi's statement that the jobs bill is only a short-term solution, Plouffe said the president's plan is better than doing nothing at all and that it's part of a longer-term economic strategy.

"I think that if you don't act right now, the economy's going to be in a deeper hole. So we have to do some things right now to immediately jump-start the economy, but that will help lead to more consistent positive economic growth," he said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union."

Plouffe pointed out a hurdle to getting the American Jobs Act passed is Tea Party members in Congress, saying he could see getting support on a number of things from House Republicans and Democrats.

"The Republican leadership is putting (Tea Party) needs ahead of the needs of 300 million Americans. And that has to stop, because we're not going to make progress on the deficit, on things we can do right now for jobs, on tax cuts, unless those 30 or 40 Tea Party members of the Republican House stop being the focal point of our discussion. And I think the country is tired of it because we are not going to move forwards together as a country unless we do so in a bipartisan way," Plouffe said on "Fox News Sunday."