By LAURA MECKLER
President Barack Obama on Monday proposed a one-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for families earning less than $ 250,000 a year, an effort to shift the conversation from the sagging economy toward tax fairness.
Mr. Obama appeared in the East Room, surrounded by people who would benefit from the extension. It is another display of the power of incumbency, which lets a president command attention for his ideas in grand surroundings not available to his challenger.
His campaign will amplify the message with a series of battleground-state events this week, and Mr. Obama will make the same case on a campaign trip to Iowa on Tuesday.
The president has long supported a permanent extension of the tax cuts for families earning less than $ 250,000 and has called for cuts aiding wealthier families to expire.
But Monday's event marked the first time he specifically called for a one-year extension for the lower-earning group.
"Let's not hold the vast majority of all Americans and our entire economy hostage while we debate the merits of another tax cut for the wealthy," Mr. Obama said.
Senate Democrats plan a vote in the next month on the proposal, which will amplify Mr. Obama's message, though it is not expected to pass. Indeed, no resolution on the issue is expected until after the November election.
But it gives Mr. Obama a newly packaged proposal he can campaign on as he travels the country, blaming Congress for inaction and Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, for opposing the move.
Mr. Romney would extend the lower tax rates for families of all incomes, saying that to do otherwise would damage the economy. House Republicans plan a vote this month on a one-year extension for all the rates as well.
A Romney spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, said Monday that raising taxes on anybody would hurt the economy.
"President Obama's response to even more bad economic news is a massive tax increase. It just proves again that the president doesn't have a clue how to get America working again and help the middle class," she said.
In December 2010, Mr. Obama agreed to extend the tax cuts temporarily for all taxpayers, citing the stalled economy and the need to get a bipartisan agreement. He has said he would not extend the lower rates for upper-income families again.
The lower rates expire for all Americans at the end of the year, and many economists worry that failure to agree on some form of extensionâ€"combined with deep spending cuts scheduled to hit at the same timeâ€"would be a blow to the economy.
That case was bolstered on Friday when another disappointing jobs report showed that the national unemployment rate remained at 8.2% in June.
Many economists have called for a temporary extension of all the lower rates, given the economy, and Democrats including Sen. Charles Schumer of New York and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California have said they should be extended for families earning up to $ 1 million a year.
Mr. Obama will amplify his message in interviews today with local TV-news anchors from six battleground statesâ€"New Hampshire, Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, Wisconsin and Nevada.
News anchors from Louisiana and Kentucky will also take part in the "Live from the White House" event.
Tax fairness is a centerpiece of Mr. Obama's re-election campaign and its argument that Mr. Obama would do the most to protect the middle class. He argues that the country cannot afford tax cuts for the rich.
The message will be echoed by Mr. Obama's re-election campaign, which plans events all week in battleground states, including a news conference with middle-class families in Concord, N.H., and statements by local elected officials on the issues in Las Vegas, Colorado and the Tampa Bay, Fla., area.
The campaign also has ramped up its call for Mr. Romney to release more years of his tax returns and to answer questions about offshore bank accounts.
That, too, is an effort to cast Mr. Romney, who has a large personal fortune, as out of touch with the middle class.
â€"Jared Favole contributed to this article. zon-mlm
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