president obama is using his campaign-style bus tour to take jabs at republicans standing in the way of his jobs proposals. not surprisingly, the gop is firing back. for more on that we go to nbc's tracie potts in washington for us. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. some of that criticism is about his jobs plan. some of it is about this campaign-style bus tour. the buses alone cost over $2 million. republicans are questioning whether that's a good use of taxpayer money. president obama visits a community college in north carolina and a virginia high school today. >> pass this bill. we need to pass this bill. >> reporter: he's pitching $35 billion to save nearly 300,000 jobs, teachers, police, firefighters, first responders, part of his bigger jobs bill the senate rejected. >> we're going to break up my jobs bill. maybe they just couldn't understand the whole thing at