Washington:
President Barack Obama says his jobs bill will guard against another downturn in the U.S. economy, even if the situation in Europe continues to get to worse.
Obama says any senator who is thinking about voting against the bill needs to explain why they oppose something that would provide urgent help to the economy.
The Senate is set to take up Obama's $447 billion jobs bill next week. But Republicans oppose a tax increase on million-dollar earners added to the bill by Senate Democrats.
Obama is speaking at the start of a White House news conference.