Obama: "I Didn't Overpromise," -- What About Stimulus? Why The Delay On Keystone XL Which Costs Taxpayers Nothing?

Obama's modus operandi has not changed.
In 2010,Salon also noted promises that
Obama wanted you to keep forgetting.

Update 4:15 PM - Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Chairman of the Republican Study Committee confirmed that tomorrow, the House will vote on a bill (H.R. 3630) extending through 2012 the reduction in the Social Security payroll tax that Congress approved last December. The bill also puts tighter constraints on the growth of future spending, gets the job-creating Keystone pipeline back on track, creates more taxpayer safeguards in the TANF welfare program, and reduces the maximum duration of unemployment payments from 99 to 79 weeks – which President Obama has also proposed – and then finally to 59 weeks. In fact, the President has at one time or another supported 90% of the reforms in this legislation.

He also said, "There is, however, a major concern that liberals in the Senate will gut H.R. 3630 of its good reforms and insert major tax increases. Senate Democrats also continue to demand spending at levels we simply can’t afford. In their obstinance, they have rolled 9 different spending bills into 1 “megabus” package that they will attempt to pass this week as well."
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Today in Washington, D.C. - Dec. 12, 2011:
Congress is back in session. This week the current Continuing Resolution (CR) expires on Friday. The House and Senate are expected to address payroll tax extension and Medicare "doc-fix" before they adjourn. The House has told its members they will not adjourn until they complete their work for this session of Congress. This means a weekend session in the House is very likely. The house is also expected to put forth as part of their position, the advancement of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Today, at 4:30 PM the Senate will take up the nominations of Norman Eisen to be ambassador to the Czech Republic and Mari Carmen Aponte to be ambassador to El Salvador. At 5:30, the Senate will vote on cloture on the Eisen nomination. If cloture is invoked, the Senate will then immediately vote on confirmation of the nomination. If cloture is not invoked, the Senate will then vote on cloture on the Aponte nomination.

Later this week, the Senate is expected to debate S.J. Res. 10, the balanced budget amendment cosponsored by all 47 Senate Republicans. The schedule for the rest of the week hasn't been set.

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, the House will begin legislative business at noon. On Friday, the House will meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business.

House Legislation Pending Considered Under Suspension of the Rules:

1. H.R. 3421 - Fallen Heroes of 9/11 Act
2. H.R. 886 - United States Marshals Service 225th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act
3. H.R. 1905 - Iran Threat Reduction Act of 2011
4. H.R. 2105 - Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Reform and Modernization Act of 2011
5. H.Res. 306 - Urging the Republic of Turkey to Safeguard Its Christian Heritage and to Return Confiscated Church Properties
6. H.Res. 376 - Calling for the repatriation of POW/MIAs and abductees from the Korean War
7. H.R. 2719 - Rattlesnake Mountain Public Access Act of 2011
8. H.R. 443 - To provide for the conveyance of certain property from the United States to the Maniilaq Association located in Kotzebue, Alaska
9. S. 278 - Sugar Loaf Fire Protection District Land Exchange Act
10. H.R. 313 - Drug Trafficking Safe Harbor Elimination Act of 2011

House Legislation pending "subject to a rule":

1. H.R. 3630 - Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011 (vehicle for payroll tax cut, doc-fix, and oil pipeline)
2. Conference Report on H.R. 2055 - Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 (likely vehicle for omnibus)
3. Conference Report on H.R. 1540 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012

Last night, 60 Minutes’ Steve Kroft asked President Obama during his interview, “Did you overpromise? Did you underestimate how difficult this was gonna be?” Obama responded, “I didn’t overpromise. And I didn’t underestimate how tough this was gonna be.”

Perhaps the president has forgotten the promises he and his administration made about the nearly $1 trillion stimulus bill they passed through a Democrat-controlled Congress within a month of taking office. In February 2009, Obama said, “It’s a plan that will save or create up to 4 million jobs over the next two years.” And Vice President Joe Biden boasted, “this is about getting this out and spent in 18 months to create 3.5 million jobs and to tee this up so the rest of the good work that's being done here literally drop-kicks us out of this recession . . . .” And of course key economic advisors Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein published their famous chart predicting unemployment wouldn’t exceed 8% with the stimulus.

In stark contrast to the president’s stimulus bill, which was all added to the nation’s debt, Republicans, a number of Democrats, and labor unions are calling on the president to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime. And unlike the stimulus bill, which relied on vague promises of jobs “saved or created,” the Keystone XL pipeline would create real, American jobs, around 20,000.

And yet President Obama has said repeatedly that he would veto a bill that combines legislation requiring the State Department to make a decision on the pipeline with a payroll tax cut he has spent weeks demanding that Congress extend.

As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, “We have the Keystone Pipeline in there. It’s a shovel ready project, the biggest and most important, ready-to-go project in America and wouldn't cost the government a penny, not one penny. Three years of environmental studies have already been done. The Secretary of State was ready to sign off on it. The President pulled it to the White House and delayed it for a year. This would create 20,000 jobs almost immediately. . . . The President is posturing here. He’d have to stand up to the AFL-CIO. . . . The teamsters and the AFL-CIO both want the Keystone Pipeline, want it now. Look, the President’s been talking about creating jobs. This is ready to go immediately. All it requires is his sign off.”

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