The Hill News

Top Senate Democrats will meet Thursday with President Obama to discuss his American Jobs Act legislation.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.), Majority Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the top messaging Democrat in the chamber, and Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, will sit down with Obama at 5:30 p.m. to discuss his jobs legislation, according to Senate Democratic aides.

Obama has called on the Senate to hold a vote on his bill â€" made up of an extension of the employee payroll tax cut, additional infrastructure spending, the establishment of a national infrastructure bank, and more funding for unemployment insurance benefits â€" sometime in October. Reid said he plans on putting the bill up for a vote sometime this month.  

Democrats had previously indicated that they did not yet have the votes to pass the legislation, but promised they would find t! hem. 

Senate Democrats modified Obama's legislation this week so that the funding for the new spending would come from a 5.6 percent surtax on millionaires. Obama had proposed paying for the bill with tax hikes on families making more than $250,000 a year, along with closing some oil-and-gas tax loopholes.  

Schumer said families and businesses that earn between $250,000 and $1 million are "firmly in the middle class."

The change to a millionaire's tax appears to be an attempt to win the votes of senators who are on the fence about the legislation.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tried on Tuesday to bring Obama's original jobs bill up for a vote, but Reid blocked the attempt with a procedural maneuver.

At a press conference Thursday, Obama announced the Senate will hold a vote on his jobs legislation next week. He also said that any senators who plan on voting against the bill would have to explain why they vot! ed against a proposal that would create jobs and help the econ! omy. 

The president said that "there is no doubt that growth has slowed," and called out congressional Republicans for playing "games" with the economy.

Critics of Obama's push for the bill have said even if it passes the Senate it's still dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled House, and say the president is just looking for a campaign issue.