国际英语新闻：Obama charges GOP with blocking small business plan

WASHINGTON, July 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday accused Republicans of blocking a White House plan that aims to provide assistance to small businesses and increase jobs in the worst economic climate since the 1930s.

During his weekly radio and Internet address Obama charged GOP leaders with using procedural tactics to prevent the bill from coming up for a vote.

"At a time when America is just starting to move forward again, we can't afford the do-nothing policies and partisan maneuvering that will only take us backward," he said.

The legislation provides 30 billion U.S. dollars to community and smaller banks to boost lending to small businesses. It also contains tax cuts and an exemption from capital gains taxes for small businesses that qualify.

U.S. President Barack Obama makes a statement about the economy in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington July 23, 2010. Obama urged the Senate on Friday to complete work on a small-business jobs plan that has been a subject of partisan wrangling.

Obama had initially pushed Congress to pass the bill before the August recess and has been traveling the country to drum up support for the measure.

"As we work to rebuild our economy, I can't imagine anything more common-sense than giving additional tax breaks and badly-needed lending assistance to America' s small business owners so they can grow and hire," he said. "That's what we're trying to do with the Small Business Jobs Act - a bill that has been praised as being good for small businesses by groups like the Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business. It's a bill that includes provision after provision authored by both Democrats and Republicans."