Washington ( CNN ) -- President Barack Obama on Wednesday issued new orders aimed at speeding up transportation projects he says will put construction workers back on the job , using the opportunity to blast congressional Republicans who have blocked similar legislation . Standing before the aging Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Potomac River , Obama again criticized Republicans who have blocked the jobs bill he put forward in September , telling an audience of construction workers , . `` There 's work to be done . There are workers ready to do it . The American people are behind this , '' he said . `` Democrats , Republicans , independents believe in this . These are ideas that have been supported by all those groups in the past . There 's no reason not to do it this time . '' The White House announced Wednesday that Obama was ordering the Transportation Department award $ 527 million in pending road and bridge repair grants by the end of the year and speed up applications for another $ 110 million in financing for projects in 2012 . The White House and DOT are also setting up a team to speed reviews of other road and rail projects . `` If there 's money already in the pipeline , we want to get it out faster , '' he said . Republicans filibustered the Senate version of the president 's $ 447 billion jobs proposal in mid-October , while a $ 35 billion measure that would have forestalled layoffs of state and local government workers like teachers and police officers was blocked a few days later . Republican leaders particularly opposed raising taxes on top earners to pay for the measures . `` How do we sit back and watch China and Europe build the best bridges and high-speed railroads and gleaming new airports , and we 're doing nothing at a time when we 've got more than a million unemployed construction workers who could build them right here in America right now ? '' Obama asked . Meanwhile , he criticized the House of Representatives for spending time to debate measures like establishing a commemorative baseball coin and a resolution reaffirming `` In God We Trust '' as the official U.S. motto . `` I trust in God , but God wants to see us help ourselves by putting people back to work , '' he said .
White House orders aim to speed up construction projects . Obama blasts Republicans for blocking his jobs bill . `` If there 's money in the pipeline , we want to get it out faster , '' he says .