U.S. President Barack Obama says Congress should make passing an outstanding aid package for small American businesses its first priority.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged congressional Republicans to pass his jobs bill on Monday. (Jim Young/Reuters)

Speaking in the Rose Garden Monday, the president said that the first order of business for Congress should be "making it easier for our small businesses to grow and hire."

In the last months of 2009, small businesses accounted for more than 60 per cent of jobs lost in the United States.

Up to $12 billion US in tax relief from eight separate tax cuts and expanding credit to small businesses are part of Obama's sweeping jobs bill, which is currently being held up by partisan bickering in the Senate.

The bill includes a $30-billion fund to promote small business lending. Under the plan, the Treasury Department would lend money to community banks that predominantly lend to small businesses outside the purview of larger lenders.

'Drop the blockade': Obama

The bill is stuck in Congress after lawmakers declined to pass it into law before breaking for the summer.

"Holding the bill hostage is directly detrimental to our economic growth," Obama said. "I ask Senate Republicans to drop the blockade."

Obama also unveiled plans to extend tax cuts for the middle class that are set to expire this year and reinvest in clean energy and research and development Monday.

He also said that he will rebuild more "of our infrastructure for the future," and will present more ideas to rescue the moribund American economy in the weeks and months ahead.

After his 10-day vacation in Martha's Vineyard, One of Obama's main priorities is to show that he is still minding the economy.

A string of weak economic reports in recent weeks has fed fears that the economy would fall back into recession.