Several Senate Democrats, including Carl Levin (Mich.), on Wednesday accused Republicans of filibustering President Obama’s jobs package by forcing it to undergo the tough procedural vote under which it was killed on Tuesday night.

“The Republicans are filibustering that alternative without offering one of their own,” Levin said Wednesday morning.

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) called on religious leaders Wednesday to reach out to and help guide the Occupy Wall Street protesters who have been rallying in New York, Washington and other areas around the country.

The demonstrations have been criticized by some for not having a cohesive message, though they appear to broadly focus on widening economic disparity within the country. But the New York Democrat who represents Harlem said religious leaders from all faiths could encourage them to become politically active in Congress.

Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) called for more infrastructure spending than the amount in President Obama's American Jobs Act on the House floor Wednesday, differing from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who has called for reform before more spending.

"Our roads are crumbling, our bridges are rusting and corroding, our locks and dams are decaying, our water and sewer system pipelines are collapsing," said Murphy, echoing an argument Obama has been making in trips around the country.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday morning accused each other's parties of seeking to sabotage the economy in order to make political gain in next year's elections.

"They believe a weak economy means a weak president," accused Reid, seeking to explain Republicans' unified vote against Obama's jobs package on Tuesday night. "They have blocked this jobs package in hopes of doing political damage to the president."

But McConnell quickly defended his party's position against Reid's attack, accusing Democrats of seeking to portray Congress as "broken" in order to run against it in the 2012 election.

"Nothing could be more ridiculous than to suggest that Republicans are rooting against the economy," said McConnell. "The White House has made it clear that the president is praying for gridlock so that he has somebody besides himself to point the finger at next November. "

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) expressed his determination on Wednesday morning to push forward with President Obama's jobs bill.

"Democrats are not going to give up on creating jobs," Reid said. "We will introduce the American Jobs Act piece by piece."

Several House Democrats on Tuesday night sought to gin up opposition to the pending passage of three free trade agreements (FTAs) by comparing them to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which many Democrats blame for thousands of U.S. jobs being lost to Mexico.

These arguments were made on the eve of expected House and Senate passage of FTAs with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, and represented a last-ditch effort of Democrats who strenuously oppose these trade deals to turn them away.

"I rise in opposition to this Colombia deal," said Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio). "It's just another NAFTA-like trade accord that too often are job-killers, people-killers and democracy-killers."

Congress on Wednesday will do something that many industry groups at one time thought may have been out of reach under the Obama administration — approve free trade agreements (FTAs) with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

The stage was finally set for passage with an agreement to link the FTAs to passage of legislation that would reauthorize the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, which aids workers who lose their jobs due to trade. The House is expected to pass the three FTAs and the TAA bill today; the Senate has already approved the TAA bill, H.R. 2832, but is expected to follow the House's lead and approve the FTAs.

The House late Tuesday began debate on the three free trade agreements (FTAs) with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, and were scheduled to finish debate and vote on the agreements on Wednesday.

Members debated each FTA for 30 minutes, leaving another hour of debate for each bill on Wednesday.

Senate Republicans on Tuesday night criticized Senate Democrats for their decision to hold a vote open on President Obama's jobs bill after it had already failed to meet the 60-vote threshold hours earlier. One aide likened it to the needless actions of a coach on the losing end of a football game.

"Nothing illustrates the Democrats' cynical approach to their jobs effort quite like this," the aide said. "And it's actually pretty embarrassing. Sort of like when a football team is getting crushed and the losing coach refuses to concede the game so his scrubs can get some playing time."