Nancy Pelosi Blasts Republican Decision Not to Respond to Obama's Jobs Speech

President Obama's jobs speech on Thursday will be followed by the sound of crickets from the Republican chambers, and Nancy Pelosi is not pleased.

The House minority leader said that Republican leaders' decision not to deliver a televised rebuttal, as is the tradition after major speeches like the State of the Union address, would speak volumes about their lack of commitment to creating jobs. She also criticized the three Republican lawmakers who have announced that they will not attend Obama's speech.

The Republicans' refusal to respond to the president's proposal on jobs is not only disrespectful to him, but to the American people, Pelosi said, according to Fox News.

Some people will undoubtedly see the lack of an official response as evidence that Republicans are quick to criticize President Obama's policies but slow to offer their own alternatives. However, some Republicans have put forward job proposals in recent weeks, even if they did not do so in direct response to Obama's.

Mitt Romney, for example, unveiled a lengthy jobs plan on Tuesday as part of his presidential campaign. He argued that his 59 points would increase U.S. economic growth by 4 percent a year and create more than 11 million jobs in his first four years in office, CNN reported.

Romney's points included reducing the corporate tax rate by 10 percent and government spending by 5 percent, not including the military or entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, according to CNN.

Republicans dismissed Pelosi's criticisms, saying they would respond to Obama's proposals, just not in an official, televised rebuttal.

Republicans are and have been entirely focused on job creation, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner told Fox News. Every member of Congress, and more importantly, the American people, will provide a reaction to the president's address.

Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri was, true to his name, blunter, telling Fox News, The speaker doesn't expect to hear much to respond to.

Obama's proposals include extending a payroll tax cut for workers, giving tax credits to companies that hire more employees and devoting billions of dollars of federal funding to highway and school construction projects -- an initiative reminiscent of Franklin Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration. The whole jobs package would cost about $300 billion, according to USA Today.