Obama urges investment in infrastructure for jobs

US President Barack Obama Friday called for more investment in the nation's infrastructure to create jobs and boost the economy as he inspected New Orleans, a port in the state of Louisiana on the Gulf of Mexico.

"Rebuilding our transportation and communications networks is one of the fastest ways to create new jobs," repoted Xinhua citing Obama in local media.

With the upcoming expansion of the Panama Canal, larger ships will need deeper waterways to do commerce in the United States. "So why wouldn't we put people to work upgrading them?" said Obama. "Let's make sure we've got the best ports and roads and bridges and schools."

The president also urged efforts to make it easier for more businesses to expand and to export more goods made in America.

In his speech, Obama also said that the 16-day partial government shutdown in October is hurting the US economic growth momentum despite ongoing economic and job market recovery.

He also talked about problems plaguing the rollout of health care reform law, or the Affordable Care Act, criticising Louisiana Republican leaders who failed to take advantage of a provision in his signature health care law to expand Medicaid to cover more of the working poor.

Obama is under increasing pressure to fix the website that forms the centerpiece of his signature healthcare overhaul.

The president has in recent weeks been embroiled in controversy over the implementation of Healthcare.gov, the website of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

Launched Oct 1, the site has been riddled with technical glitches preventing people from completing enrollment in health insurance plans, frustrating many users and raising questions about the government's competence in implementing such a massive project.