Obama touts highway bill as sign of 'modest cooperation' from Congress

President Obama said Monday that lawmakers' recent approval of a $105 billion transportation spending bill was a sign of possible cooperation in the future between him and Republicans in Congress.

The transportation bill, which was the first new road and transit spending deal approved since 2005, was signed by Obama earlier this month after months of contentious debate between Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

Asked at a town-hall meeting in Cincinnati Monday by a 15-year-old girl if he would create a job for her unemployed father who works in construction, Obama said the transportation bill would keep people in the industry on the job.

"So far I have not gotten a positive response from members of Congress on the other side of the aisle," Obama said after ticking off a list of pieces of his jobs agenda he said was being blocked by Congress before turning to the transportation bill. 

"This was a sign of some modest cooperation, so it makes me feel a little bit encouraged — they did just pass a transportation bill that at least wouldn't lay off more construction workers," Obama said.

The passage of the transportation has been used by members of both parties to tout bipartisanship in Congress after a prolonged period of gridlock.

"I think the Senate the last couple of months is beginning to operate like it used to," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said during a news conference as negotiations on the transportation bill picked up steam.

"There's been some bipartisan stuff going on here," his counterpart, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said separately at the time.

Obama told his audience in Ohio on Monday that Republicans in Congress might be freed to agree with him more if he is reelected to a second term.

"If I'm elected, not only do I think that we'll be able to continue the progress that we've made over the last three and a half years, I actually think that a lot of Republicans, since this will be my last election, they will not be as interested in just beating me and maybe they'll be more interested in moving the country forward," he said. "That's my hope."

—This story was updated with new information at 3:49 p.m.

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