Updated

Some reactions to President Barack Obama's jobs speech to Congress:

"The proposals the president outlined tonight merit consideration. We hope he gives serious consideration to our ideas as well. It's my hope that we can work together to end the uncertainty facing families and small businesses, and create a better environment for long-term economic growth and private-sector job creation."—House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
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"President Barack Obama laid out a set of bipartisan ideas to create jobs whose size and scope reflects the urgent need to put Americans back to work. Most of the ideas in this bill have been supported by both Democrats and Republicans. These are common-sense solutions for getting our economy moving again and spurring hiring in the private sector.—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
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"The president is politically paralyzed and philosophically incapable of doing what needs to be done. The president should take immediate action." GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, a Minnesota congresswoman.
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"The president's plan is a solid foundation for Congress to build on. It strategically combines tax incentives for small businesses with targeted investments in American workers, the education of our children and improving our nation's crumbling infrastructure. That said, I would have liked to have seen a greater emphasis on domestic energy production and a special focus on water and flood protection for the nation."—Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.
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"Where we agree—like the need to pass the long pending, job creating trade agreements—we should act and act now. All we need is for the president to send Congress the agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea so the American people can begin to take advantage of the up to 250,000 jobs they will create. However, I was disappointed that the president did not discuss the one area that can truly spark sustained private-sector job creation in this country—comprehensive tax reform." —Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., a member of the supercommittee on debt reduction.
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"Now is the time to invest in the future of our country by creating opportunities and helping out of work Americans find jobs. Many of the president's ideas have the potential to create jobs and spark the economy."—Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.
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"Ultimately I think the problem is there are some things in there that are good, but by and large, it's a proposal based on things that just won't work, haven't worked in the past and they won't work in the future."—Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
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"President Obama offered a clear path to help small businesses succeed and hire, provide tax relief for our workers, rebuild America, and provide aid to those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. It will put Americans back to work and it will be paid for."—House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
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"The president's plan makes a mockery of the recent debt limit deal. That agreement cut $7 billion in appropriations next year but the president now wants to borrow hundreds of billions more to finance a second stimulus package."—Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.
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The president took an important and necessary step tonight: He started a serious national conversation about how to solve our jobs crisis. He showed working people that he is willing to go to the mat to create new jobs on a substantial scale. Tonight's speech should energize the nation to come together, work hard and get serious about jobs.—AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.