Jobs and Washington: Who's doing what?

The Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act

Consumer Financial Protection & Soundness Improvement Act

Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act

Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation

Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act

Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act

Reversing President Obamas Offshore Moratorium Act

The Jobs and Energy Permitting Act of 2011

North American-Made Energy Security Act

Budget for Fiscal Year 2012

Constant threats of tax increases and excessive regulations send the wrong signal to our entrepreneurs, investors and small businesspeople — a signal that we are not open for business in America," Cantor said in a Friday news release. "Meanwhile the president's job plan, which includes more stimulus spending and higher taxes, is opposed by the bipartisan majority of Congress. There are some portions of President Obama's plan where we can find commonality, and the House will pass those proposals to boost economic growth and help people get back to work."

According to a GOP graphic, at the beginning of September the House had voted on more than 12 jobs bills and 6 energy production bills. The House also passed a budget. In contrast, according to the graphic, the Senate had voted on one jobs bill and zero energy production bills. It has been nearly 900 days since the Senate passed a budget.

In an Associated Press fact check of Obamas Thursday speech, reporter Jim Kuhnhenn laid out Republican objections with Obamas plan, citing new spending on public works programs, higher taxes and overregulation. Republicans have, however, praised Obamas plan for including the extension of certain business tax breaks, waiving a payment withholding provision for federal contractors, incentives for hiring veterans and job training measures in connection with unemployment insurance.

Although Obama says the Republicanled House is currently standing in the way of his jobs bill, the bill has also encountered problems in the Democrat-led Senate. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pushed for a vote on the bill Tuesday, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., blocked the move. The bill is currently being rewritten to gain the support of enough Democrats to pass. The new bill will therefore include a 5.6 percent surtax on millionaires. Additionally, Thursday evening Reid used the nuclear option to change Senate rules in response to McConnells pushing for a vote, The Hill reports.

For Democrats, the answer to the unemployment crisis can be found in the presidents jobs bill and the jolt he says it will bring. For Republicans, the answer seems to lie in passing smaller legislation aimed at specific issues. Either way, the 2012 election sits at the heart of the debate.

According to Thomas.gov, Obamas bill — which would require some politically dangerous votes — was introduced in the House (H.R. 12) and Senate (S.1549) at the request of the president. Neither the House nor the Senate version has attracted any cosponsors.

Obama can complain about Eric Cantor in his insider emails and on the campaign trail, but even House Democrat Whip Steny Hoyer hasnt bothered to co-sponsor the bill Cantor is supposedly blocking, Russell Halley writes at The Business Insider. In fact, no Democrat has co-sponsored the bill in either house, and its the Democrats in the Senate that [have] done all they can to block a vote on the bill their partys president insists must be passed right away, and yet the Obama campaign is blasting the Republicans."

"With this," Halley says, "the Obama re-election strategy is laid bare: theyre counting on voters being so stupid and uninformed that they will buy any old line the White House throws at them. The trajectory of the economy and the re-election effort suggest that the strategy isnt working.