Obama says jobs plan will have bipartisan appeal

President Obama said Monday that the jobs plan he will unveil next week will include ideas with bipartisan appeal.

Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Obama said his proposals will “put more money in the pockets of working families and middle-class families.”

The president’s plan, to be unveiled after Labor Day, is expected to include tens of billions of dollars to renovate thousands of public schools and a tax break to encourage businesses to hire new workers, according to people familiar with White House deliberations.

Though he did not offer such specifics in his remarks, Obama said his proposals “are bipartisan ideas that ought to be the kind of proposals that everybody can get behind, no matter what your political affiliation might be.”

“So my hope and expectation is that we can put country before party and get something done for the American people,” he said.

The comments came as Obama announced the nomination of Alan Krueger to chair the White House Council of Economic Advisors.

Krueger, who served as chief economist in the Treasury Department from 2009 into 2010 before returning to teach at Princeton University, “brings a wealth of experience to the job,” the president said.

If confirmed, Krueger would replace Austan Goolsbee, who left the White House this month to resume teaching at the University of Chicago.