Economic Data Is Little Help for Washington Gridlock WASHINGTON - With the latest economic data flashing warning signs that the economy is cooling, the immediate reaction from Congressional leaders signaled little movement toward breaking the long, partisan deadlock over fiscal policy. Both sides know that if Congress does nothing, a fiscal cliff lies ahead at the turn of the year, in the form of automatic and widespread spending cuts and tax increases, a course that would satisfy nobody and would, many economists fear, make a weak economy worse. On Friday morning, both sides in Congress blamed each other for the impasse. "Economic uncertainty continues to hold back private sector growth and new hiring," said Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House Republican whip, after a remarkably weak jobs report on Friday followed a downward revision on Thursday of the first quarter's economic growth. Republicans were quick to attribute the weak economy to what Mr. McCarthy called "a complete lack of leadership from the president and Senate Democrats." But the Democrats threw the blame right back. "This morning's jobs report shows that Congressional Republicans" do-nothing, confrontation-over-compromise approach to jobs isn't working," said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the Democratic whip. "Republicans continue to avoid addressing serious job creation in favor of ideological bills," he said. This is deeply disappointing, as we were able to work together in May to pass a bipartisan reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank. House Speaker John A. Boehner said that the Republicans would barrel ahead with the kind of legislation that the House has been passing but that has gone nowhere in the Senate, where Democrats are in the majority. "The House has passed more than 30 jobs bills to expand energy production and approve popular projects like Keystone XL, eliminate excessive federal red tape, repeal laws like Obamacare that are making it harder for small businesses to hire new workers, and more," he said. In the weeks ahead, Mr. Boehner said, Republicans in the House would repeal a medical device tax in the health care overhaul, impose a moratorium on new federal regulations and, as he put it, "stop the tax hike on small businesses that is scheduled to hit on Jan. 1, 2013." But that way of describing the scheduled expiration of Bush-era tax cuts, which the Republicans want to extend, demonstrates that both sides are continuing to cast matters in the light that they feel plays to their political advantage. The Republicans are taking the same agenda on the election trail, as their House campaign committee's message focused on characterizing the Democratic approach as "reckless spending habits" and a "hyper-regulatory regime." For their part, President Obama and his partisans in Congress, who want the Bush-era tax cuts to end for taxpayers in the upper-income brackets, have their own favorite tax cuts that they would like to extend, like those that favor wind energy and other "green" projects.