Obama Jobs Program Could Cost $100 Billion

WASHINGTON -- President Obama's push to create jobs may carry a price tag in the $100 billion range, his top spokesman said Sunday.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the idea is to help fill in the hole from jobs lost in the deepest recession to hit the country in decades.

In his State of the Union address last week, Obama called for a program costing about $30 billion in incentives to employers to hire workers. The plan would include tax breaks to small businesses that increase their work force.

But Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., told "Fox News Sunday" that when it comes to talking jobs and deficit reduction, Obama "is in the right church in the wrong pew."

Alexander said the president has to work on reducing the deficit and increasing jobs but not by borrowing from the troubled asset relief program or other programs that already are using deficit spending to pay for themselves.

Gibbs did not say in an interview Sunday with CNN's "State of the Union" how the $100 billion figure would be broken down. That total includes money set aside for public works projects.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.