Jobs is the magic word. President Obama made job creation his top priority in the State of the Union, and job creation is a key component of the budget. Every other policy agenda is bending toward the  gravitational pull of this priority: climate legislation is now a mechanism for creating clean energy jobs, banking reform is a ticket to increasing small business jobs, and the list goes on.

But the issue of job creation is not just Washington buzz. Employment remains staggeringly high, and the Labor Department reported that the US shed an additional 20,000 jobs in January even as unemployment fell .3%. With the recession hitting low-income people first, this issue demands our immediate attention. So what is Washington doing?

In his State of the Union, the President outlined several job creation programs which have since been reinforced in his budget. CNN summarized its key components well. From cnn.com

Small Business: Obama would eliminate for one year capital gains taxes on new investments in the stock of small businesses. The details are not clear but the plan builds on an existing, less generous, Recovery Act tax break.

Obama would also extend through 2010 tax breaks for certain small business capital investments up to $250,000. And small businesses would get a tax break for hiring new employees. He would also eliminate fees for loans made through the Small Business Administration. Those fees had been waived for most of this year, but the funding ran out two weeks ago.

Business: All companies would for another year pay fewer taxes on capital expenditures - a temporary benefit that kicked in with the Recovery Act.

Infrastructure: Obama would spend approximately $50 billion on infrastructure projects for roads, bridges, airports and ports. The House has talked about spending $70 billion on a similar initiative.

Energy:…