With health care almost done, and a backlog of bills a mile long sitting in the Senate, thoughts turn to wondering what the House is planning to do for the next several months. Turns out they’re picking up Harry Reid’s jobs agenda with a series of smaller bills aimed at dealing with the unemployment crisis.

Democrats are planning votes as soon as Tuesday on an $18 billion bill that funds infrastructure projects and provides small-business tax breaks, as well as a disaster-relief measure that includes $600 million for a summer youth jobs program.

“Now we can have a sustained and focused effort on jobs,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).

Today’s bill includes a $2 billion dollar tax break that would exempt small businesses from capital gains taxes through 2011. There’s also $2.5 billion for the TANF program (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) and $7.5 billion more for the Build America Bonds program (which just got a $2 billion dollar increase in the micro-jobs bill signed by the President last week). The rest of the measure is made up of tax credits for low-income housing and public works bonds in at-risk areas with high job loss.

House Democrats are also readying a FEMA funding bill that includes $600 million in state and local government grants to provide summer jobs for youths. This was a successful measure in the stimulus which the Senate failed to include in their $154 billion dollar “extenders” bill – an amendment attempting to attach it was defeated.

The move to small ball on jobs does not bode well for the Local Jobs for America Act, a $100 billion dollar measure to provide states and localities with direct project funding for job-creation efforts. Little has been said on this bill since it was introduced on March 10.