US House passes minor element of Obama jobs plan

The Republican-led US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a minor element of President Barack Obama's jobs bill as consensus remained elusive on other efforts to boost the struggling economy. With the unemployment rate stuck at 9 percent, Republicans and Democrats have lined up behind sharply different job-creation agendas.
Obama has put forward a $447 billion package of government spending and tax cuts for workers, while Republicans want to roll back pollution controls and other regulations that they say are preventing businesses from expanding. With power divided in Washington, neither agenda is likely to become law. But both will have a long afterlife in the 2012 presidential and congressional elections, as both parties seek to convince voters that they have a better plan to create jobs. Thursday's vote was a rare example of common ground as the House voted 406 to 16 to eliminate a yet-to-be enacted law that would withhold 3 percent of payments to government contractors.