President Obama Joins Unemployed Men for Beers on Day Jobs Bill is Defeated

Oct. 11: President Barack Obama has a beer with unemployed construction workers at The Harp and Celt Irish Bar in Orlando, Fla. (AP)

ORLANDO, Florida – President Barack Obama has joined four unemployed construction workers in Florida for a round of beers on a day his jobs bill met defeat on Capitol Hill.

Obama met with the group at Harp and Celt Restaurant & Irish Pub in downtown Orlando. He solicited opinions on the jobs situation and said he was trying to figure out how to get the construction trades back to work.

The three unemployed pipe fitters and one unemployed plumber drank beer and soda; Obama had a Guinness. They all toasted "to more jobs."

Obama held the meeting between fundraisers in Florida as Senate Republicans -- and two Democrats -- turned back an effort to open debate on the president's $447 billion jobs bill. Obama says the bill would create construction jobs.