WASHINGTON--White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett on Tuesday defended taking a jab at Republicans while speaking from the pulpit over the weekend at Atlanta's historic church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached.

"We all sleep a little better at night knowing Osama Bin Laden and his lieutenants are not plotting a terrorist attack against the United States," Jarrett said.

Taking aim at Republicans, Jarrett suggested "Teachers, and firefighters, and policemen," may find their jobs in jeopardy because of lack of Republican congressional support.

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Mika Brzezinski asked Jarrett if "whether or not that is a bipartisan approach, or do you agree to an extent that Republicans have gotten in the way of jobs that are on the line?"

Jarrett said, "I think it's very clear that the Republicans voted against the American Jobs Act. Each time when the whole act was before Congress, when -- each component part, practically all of them the Republicans voted against.

"And so yes, all across the country right now we have teachers and
firefighters, first responders whose jobs are at risk because we don't
have that act in place. And so it did a great deal of damage, and I
think that the Republicans would agree that they voted against it."