Calling on lawmakers to "stop the circus" and get to work, President Barack Obama told a joint session of Congress on Thursday night that immediate action is needed to rescue the U.S. economy and create jobs.

Republicans riposted that the president's latest potpourri of new spending and targeted tax cuts "just won't work."

Acknowledging that any recovery "will be driven not by Washington, but by our businesses and our workers," Obama nevertheless outlined a $450 billion jobs plan that faces long odds in Congress.

In his speech, Obama said the American Jobs Act would halve payroll takes for small-business owners, issue $4,000 tax credits for new hires, modernize and repair 35,000 schools, rehire "thousands of teachers," fund transportation projects and extend long-term unemployment benefits.

While the president said many of the proposals have been embraced by Republicans, his renewed call for "the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share" will encounter stiff resistance from GOP members who have opposed any tax increases.

To counter that expected opposition, the president proposed giving the "typical working family" a $1,500 tax cut next year.

"This expands on the tax cut that Democrats and Republicans already passed for this year. If we allow that tax cut to expire -- if we refuse to act -- middle-class families will get hit with a tax increase at the worst possible time. We cannot let that happen," Obama said.

Jabbing Republicans with a partisan edge, the president declared, "I know some of you have sworn oaths to never raise any taxes on anyone for as long as you live. 

"Now is not the time to carve out an exception and raise middle-class taxes, which is why you should pass this bill right away," Obama said to a standing ovation of Democrats in the House chamber.

"This isn’t political grandstanding. This isn’t class warfare. This is simple math. These are real choices that we have to make, and I’m pretty sure I know what most Americans would choose," Obama said.

Borrowing Florida Gov. Rick Scott's "Let's get to work" slogan, the president tried to whip supporters into a push for immediate action.

The National Resources Defense Council, a leading advocate for the "green-energy" jobs and tough environmental regulations promoted by the administration, applauded.

“President Obama has presented a real plan to get Americans back to work -- unlike Republican leaders in Congress whose so-called jobs agenda would destroy our environmental and health safeguards," said NRDC president Frances Beinecke.

“The next step is to build on the president’s plans by fully embracing clean-energy jobs," she said.

But as Obama tried to reach over the heads of lawmakers and appeal to the American people, critics were unimpressed by his bid to balance new spending and selective tax cuts.

"More of the same," grumped former Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Holtz-Eakin. "A payroll tax holiday, more state aid and infrastructure proposals, new higher tax credits. Nothing new, and many of these are in current law."

Holtz-Eakin said the country would be better served by aggressively pursuing "a broader approach of passing trade agreements and pro-growth tax reform" while tackling spiraling entitlement costs.

Noting Obama's brief reference to trade agreements, Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, said afterward, “If the president is going to continue pointing to the free-trade agreements as potential engines for economic growth, he should let his actions speak and send all three agreements to Congress where they will no doubt garner bipartisan approval.”

Trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea have been bottled up by the administration for months.