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In August, House Republicans announced our next major jobs initiative: a series of bills to roll back the Obama administration's radical, job-crushing regulations. After identifying ten of the most damaging regulations, we've set about modifying or repealing them one by one.

Details about the Justice Department's horribly botched gun-tracking program, dubbed "Fast and Furious," reveal government incompetence at best and misconduct at worst. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been investigating this troubling case for months -- often with little cooperation from Attorney General Eric Holder's Justice Department.

The failure of the Obama stimulus bill to keep unemployment below 9 percent demonstrates that the government is not effective at creating jobs. What the government can do is remove barriers to economic growth and create conditions favorable for employment. The long-delayed trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama will do just that.

It's easy to see why congressional approval ratings have reached historic lows. The latest spending fight is a perfect example of the politics-as-usual -- and, even worse -- budgeting-as-usual practices that have undermined trust in the federal government and created record deficits.

Now that the Obama administration is releasing an economic plan at the rate of roughly once a week, it almost makes one miss the days when the president contributed nothing at all to the debate. At least during the months when President Obama remained virtually silent regarding the nation's most significant challenges, we were spared calls for $1.6 trillion tax hikes.