US President Barack Obama used the personal stories of two women to make his case for the passage of his jobs plan, urging Congress to move quickly.
In his weekly radio and internet address, Obama said he sent lawmakers his $447 billion jobs plan three weeks ago, "and now I want it back."
Every day he receives letters from Americans "who expect Washington to do something about the problems we face," he said.
16-year-old Georgia student Destiny Wheeler wrote him that she wants to go to college, even though her family has little money to pay for it, Obama said.
"The American Jobs act gives me hope that I might start to receive a better education, that one day job opportunities will be open for me to grasp, and that one day my personal American Dream will be reached," the president read from the letter.
Another woman, Cathleen Dixon, attached photographs of a bridge she drives under every day on the way to drop her children off at their Chicago school.
Dixon "worries about their safety and writes, 'I am angry that in this country of vast resources we claim that we cannot maintain basic infrastructure,'" Obama related.
"How can we ever hope to preserve or regain our stature in this world if we cannot find the will to protect our people and take care of our basic needs?"
{{/usCountry}}"How can we ever hope to preserve or regain our stature in this world if we cannot find the will to protect our people and take care of our basic needs?"
{{/usCountry}}Since September 8, the president has travelled across the nation to promote his plan, aimed at spurring hiring to trim the nation's 9.1% unemployment rate.
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