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President Obama delivers a speech on jobs and the US economy to Congress – follow the action and reaction here live 7.35pm: Now here’s the politics: Obama goes on a riff “I reject the idea” that Americans are forced to choose between jobs and regulations. And he doesn’t want America to be in a race for the bottom, he wants it to be in a race for the top, unsurprisingly. 7.32pm: RedState’s Erick Erickson isn’t happy, via Twitter : “Instead of yelling ‘you lie’ at him, I wish they’d loudly laugh at this farce. This speech is a rehashed joke.” 7.29pm: By Obama’s standards, this is a very direct, straight-forward speech by Obama. No fancy turns of phrase so far. For example: This isn’t political grandstanding. This isn’t class warfare. This is simple math. These are real choices that we have to make. 7.26pm: I think there’s a subtle message in this speech, and that is that passing this jobs bill is a high priority for the White House. 7.24pm: Since then we’ve had several more “pass this jobs bills”. Yep, Chuck’s right. If you had “pass this jobs bill” in the Presidential Speech drinking game, you’re already passed out by now. 7.22pm: MSNBC’s Chuck Todd tweets : “I’ve already lost count of the number of times POTUS has said “pass this jobs bill.” 7.17pm: “Fifty House Republicans” have proposed similar payroll tax cuts, says Obama. “You should pass this bill now,” he repeats, and then gets tougher: Building a world class transportation system was part of what made us a economic superpower. And now you’re going to sit back and watch China build newer airports and faster railroads, at a time when millions of unemployed construction workers could build them right here in America? 7.15pm: Now Obama is explaining his American Jobs Act, stressing that every proposal in it has been supported by politicians on both sides: It will provide a jolt to the American economy … you should pass this jobs plan right away. At that moment a huge crash of thunder and lightning is heard over NW Washington. Maybe a good sign? 7.10pm: Here’s Obama, saying that Americans “know that Washington has not always put their interests first”: The people of this country work hard to meet their responsibilities. The question tonight is, whether we will meet ours. The question is whether in the face of an on-going national crisis, we can stop the circus and actually do something to save the economy. 7.09pm: Strangely, the mood actually seems more pleasant in atmosphere than in the last State of the Union, back in January. It’s going to be 43 minutes long, according to Shep. 7.05pm: Here we go: “Mr Speaker, the President of the United States,” is the call by Sergeant-at-Arms Bill Livingood, and here Obama is, shaking hands and looking jolly. “This looks exactly like a State of the Union address,” sniffs Shepherd Smith, the only Fox News presenter worth a pitcher of spit. Or just a pitcher. 7.02pm: We’ve just added a live video of this event to this blog, so refresh the page and you’ll see it. 6.58pm: Not long to go. There’s Michelle Obama being applauded. She’s in magenta. Or possible fuschia. The dress I mean. 6.50pm: There’s some pro forma stuff that has to be got through, and that’s being done right now. Oh look, it’s the dean of the diplomatic corps! That sort of thing. 6.43pm: On Fox News, the cynics are out in force. “This is the first election kick-off speech given by a president in the houses of Congress,” says Charles Krauthammer. Like Charles, I’m shocked – shocked! – to hear that politics is going on in the halls of Congress. 6.35pm: If you want to follow the White House’s live video of tonight’s event, then I have the feed for you right here . 6.28pm ET: The White House has just released a set of advance quotes from Obama’s speech: The people of this country work hard to meet their responsibilities. The question tonight is whether we’ll meet ours. The question is whether, in the face of an ongoing national crisis, we can stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy; whether we can restore some of the fairness and security that has defined this nation since our beginning. Those of us here tonight cannot solve all of our nation’s woes. Ultimately, our recovery will be driven not by Washington, but by our businesses and our workers. But we can help. We can make a difference. There are steps we can take right now to improve people’s lives. I am sending this Congress a plan that you should pass right away. It’s called the American Jobs Act. There should be nothing controversial about this piece of legislation. Everything in here is the kind of proposal that’s been supported by both Democrats and Republicans – including many who sit here tonight. And everything in this bill will be paid for. Everything. The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: to put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of those who are working. It will create more jobs for construction workers, more jobs for teachers, more jobs for veterans, and more jobs for the long-term unemployed. It will provide a tax break for companies who hire new workers, and it will cut payroll taxes in half for every working American and every small business. It will provide a jolt to an economy that has stalled, and give companies confidence that if they invest and hire, there will be customers for their products and services. You should pass this jobs plan right away. 6.02pm ET: Guess who’s coming to the big speech tonight? There are duelling parties of guests invited by the White House and Republicans to sit in the visitors gallery: The guests who will be seated with First Lady Michelle Obama all point to elements of the president’s plan he will discuss tonight, a set of proposals he’s calling the “American Jobs Act.” Some of them also just so happen to hail from swing states that the White House wouldn’t mind garnering some favorable coverage in. They include an Iowa business executive who took part in Obama’s recent Rural Economic Forum, a small business owner in Charlotte, North Carolina, a Navy veteran from Minnesota looking to re-enter the private sector workforce, and a Cleveland school teacher who could be laid off because of local budget cuts. Preamble: Tonight President Obama delivers a crucial speech on his plans for the US economy and joblessness to a special joint session of Congress, to be televisied live at 7pm ET (midnight BST). In the past Obama has relied on his ability to give a big, high profile speech to gain political momentum and assauge his critics. This time – with the American economy in the doldrums, unemployment stubbornly high at 9%, increased public discontent and intransigent opposition from the Republican opposition – Obama’s rhetorical skills may have met their match. What can we expect from Obama’s speech? The emphasis will be solidly on jobs and job creation, the key political fact of the last 12 months as hopes for a recovery has first faded and then disappeared. More specifically, according to the heavily trailed contents, Obama plans to offer some specific spending increases and tax cuts designed to restart job creation. How or if he can pay for them depends on how much he can win over the Republicans who control the House of Representatives. With a presidential election looming next year, Republicans have little incentive to save Obama’s own job. But opinion polls show rising dissatisfaction with the response of the Republican party in Congress. While Obama’s popularity has slipped to new lows, he is still better liked that Congressional Republicans. So what will we learn tonight? According to the Washington Post, not much blue sky as opposed to more of the same, with perhaps $300bn in new spending: The president’s plan, in large part, will call for continuing current measures to stimulate the economy, including a 2 percentage-point payroll-tax cut and extended unemployment benefits, administration officials say. Obama is also likely to call for an additional tax cut for companies that hire workers. Those measures together could cost about $200 billion next year. Obama is planning to propose $100 billion or more in spending on infrastructure, state and local aid, and programs that target people who have been unemployed for more than six months, according to officials and other people familiar with the deliberations. Not only will he pledge new spending to spur hiring, he is also likely to call for overhauling the way the government spends money. This could include an infrastructure bank that would pool tens of billions of federal dollars with state or private money to build roads and commercial buildings and to rehabilitate schools. Obama has suggested that the initiatives could lead to the hiring of one million unemployed construction workers. Will Republicans go for it? According to the New York Times , possibly some GOP members might like tax cuts: This week, Senator Scott P Brown, a Republican from Massachusetts, became one of the first in his party to call the tax cut “a policy that we should all support.” Jon M Huntsman Jr, the former Utah governor who is running for president, has said he thinks the cut is a good idea. On Wednesday, Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, said that the tax cut “is something I supported in the past,” and that the matter “will be part of the discussions ongoing.” (Two weeks ago his spokesman, Brad Dayspring, said that Mr Cantor “has long believed that there are better ways to grow the economy and create jobs than temporary tax relief.”) House Speaker John A Boehner also said Thursday morning, in response to a question concerning the tax relief, that he was open to what the president had to say. For more background, my colleagues at the Guardian have put together two excellent guides to the economic data: • How US unemployment has changed over time • US unemployment mapped state by state Before Obama starts speaking at 7pm ET we’ll be covering the build-up, the speech itself and the reaction, including a threatened response by Republican presidential contender Michele Bachmann. And of course you can leave your comments below. United States US economy Barack Obama Obama administration US Congress Live video US economic growth and recession US politics Republicans Economics Richard Adams guardian.co.uk