“House Republicans plan to continue passing bills from their regulatory relief agenda.   Votes are scheduled this week on GOP-sponsored bills to counter a National Labor Relations Board rule change designed to speed union elections (HR 3094), require more consideration of the costs of federal regulations (HR 3010) and give the Small Business Administration more authority to blunt the impact of federal regulations on small firms (HR 527).”

These common-sense proposals are set to join the more than 20 bipartisan, House-passed jobs bills awaiting action in the Democratic-controlled Senate.  That is, of course, unless President Obama puts country before party and calls on Senate leaders to act.  Speaker Boehner recently urged the president to do just that, according to The Hill: 

“…Republicans have championed legislation to slash spending, roll back federal regulations and cut taxes on businesses and individuals alike.  GOP leaders have passed a number of those bills through the House this year and are pressuring Senate Democrats to take them up.

“‘The American people continue to await action on the more than 20 bipartisan jobs bills passed by the House that are currently stuck in the Democratic-controlled Senate,’ Boehner said last week… ‘With one single statement,’ Boehner added, Obama ‘could dislodge these bipartisan jobs bills and ensure they are brought to a vote.  I hope the president will put country before party and call on the Senate to bring these bipartisan jobs bills to a vote immediately after Thanksgiving.’”

For his part, the president appears set on more “We Can’t Wait” executive orders – measures that the Associated Press has labeled “modest and bureaucratic” – and campaign speeches that disregard Republicans’ efforts to forge common ground on jobs.   With middle-class families still asking ‘where are the jobs?,’ both parties should come together in these critical weeks to act on common ground for jobs, starting with the more than 20 bipartisan jobs bills (and counting) stuck in the Democratic-controlled Senate. 

Let our jobs bills go, Mr. President.