Watch the live feed here. Talk about it and follow live updates here.
8:00 AM PT: The news conference is scheduled to begin at 11:00 AM ET. President Obama will address his jobs bill and his economic growth strategy, including news that the Senate will move forward with his legislation, albeit with different mechanism for paying for it.
8:01 AM PT: The first thing President Obama says is "Next week the Senate will vote on the American Jobs Act." The only difference between the Senate's version and President Obama's version is that the Senate's version pays for the legislation with a 5.6% millionaire's tax on income over one million dollars instead of President Obama's broader tax reform proposal.
8:03 AM PT: "Any Senator that's thinking about voting against" the jobs act "needs to explain why" they would would oppose something that will grow the economy and prevent a backwards slide. President Obama talks about the tax incentives to employers in the legislation as well as the funding to states to allow them to keep teachers on the job.
8:06 AM PT: Obama frames the spending provisions in the bill as making investments that we need to make for long-term economic growth. It's not a "make-work" bill, he says, it's about doing the things that we'd need to do even if we didn't also need to create jobs. He concludes his opening remarks urging senators to "think long and hard" before casting their votes next week.
8:11 AM PT: First question from AP is a two-parter, first about the weakness of the economy, and the second a real fountain of inside-the-beltway idiocy. Basically, the reporter accuses Obama of refusing to work with Republicans, and says isn't he just playing a political game by proposing a bill that he knows has absolutely no chance of passing. Of course, that's not what Obama believes. He thinks this can—and must—pass. And as he points out, he's tried over and over to work with Republicans, even to the dismay of his base. But "in every instance," he says, "what we've seen is game playing and a preference to score political points rather than getting things done on the part of the other side." He says it's been like that since January 2009, but nonetheless "our doors are open." But now it's up to Republicans to explain "why would you be opposed to tax cuts for small businesses and tax cuts for American workers?" "For the last decade they've been" calling for lower taxes. "Why wouldn't we want to that [...] why would you be opposed now?" The answer to the question, which Obama doesn't need to spell out in this press conference, is obvious: Republicans don't want to do it because they think it will help President Obama politically.
8:15 AM PT: More on the answer to the first question: "Do they have an alternative?" (Speaking of Republicans.) If so, nobody's seen it, he says. Middle-class families have been struggling for more than a decade, and things are getting even tougher, therefore "we have to have an approach, to take action that is big enough to meet the moment." Trade bills alone won't "do enough" to meet our huge challenges. "If next week Senators have additional ideas that will put people to work right now [...] we are happy to consider them. But every idea that we have put forward are ideas that have been supported by Republicans and Democrats alike. [...] If Mr. McConnell or members of his caucus choose to vote against it, they'll have to explain it." He says he'll continue to push, even if they say now, perhaps bringing up individual provisions for a vote, putting the GOP on defense.