US President Barack Obama late on Thursday unveiled to the nation a higher than expected $447bn employment programme and demanded in a nationally televised address “a stop to the political circus.”

The president urged lawmakers several times to pass his US jobs bill “right away” at the joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington to help fix the economy.

Obama’s package of tax cuts and government spending plans aims to boost spending on infrastructure, revive the stalling economy and create jobs by slashing payroll taxes for small businesses and workers by half.