Obama hopes for Congress to move jobs bill within weeks

President Barack Obama said Tuesday he’s hoping to reach a consensus to move forward with a jobs bill in the next few weeks.

The president, at the top of his meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders from both the House and the Senate, said he’s hoping to move forward on talks about a job bill, as well as deficit reduction.

“There should be some areas where we can agree,” Obama said. “A good place to start and what I would hope to spend a lot of time on in these discussions today is how we can move forward on a jobs package.”

The Senate had hoped to move forward with its jobs package this week, though it’s not clear whether there is much consensus about what it should include, and it’s even more unclear how the winter storms hitting D.C. will affect the Senate’s schedule.

Nevertheless, Obama said he hoped for the House and Senate to finish a package with bipartisan support within weeks.

“My hope is that both in the House and the Senate we will see a package moving in the next several weeks,” he said.

The president also said he would work with the leaders at the White House — including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) — on how to bring down the deficits and debt.