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| Plotting Against Jobs For Americans |
The Senate will begin consideration of S.J. Res. 10, the balanced budget amendment cosponsored by all 47 Senate Republicans, and S.J. Res. 24, the Democrat alternative that calls for tax hikes. Tomorrow, the Senate is expected to vote on both amendments.
Yesterday, Senate Republicans blocked the nomination of Mari Carmen Aponte as ambassador to El Salvador by a vote of 49-37.Prior to that vote, the Senate voted 70-16 to invoke cloture on the nomination of Norman Eisen to be ambassador to the Czech Republic. Eisen was then confirmed by a voice vote.
Yesterday, the House passed by voice vote under a suspension of House rules the The Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty and Job Creation Act, H.R. 2845 and delayed numerous votes on bills for tomorrow or later.
The New York Times reports today, “In league with President Obama, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, served notice to Congressional Republicans late Monday that he will prevent final votes on a must-pass bill to finance government operations until Congress approves a measure to Democrats’ liking that extends a payroll tax cut and unemployment assistance.
"With the Republican-controlled House expected to pass an alternative payroll-tax measure on Tuesday that Democrats oppose, Democratic leaders fear that Republican lawmakers will leave town for the year as soon as Congress approves a fiscal year 2012 spending package that is nearing bipartisan agreement. That would leave Democrats with the choice of accepting Republicans’ version of the payroll tax-cut bill or else taking the blame when the current tax cut for 160 million American workers lapses after Dec. 31. To check any such Republican power play by the House, Mr. Obama phoned Mr. Reid on Sunday, aides said. By late Monday, Democrats had hatched their move to exploit their control of the other two legislative power centers, the Senate and the White House. Mr. Reid called Speaker John A. Boehner and said he would not hold a vote this week on the government-spending package — assuming the parties complete negotiations on it — until there was a resolution of the payroll tax and unemployment compensation issues. . . . [Republicans’] bill also would require Mr. Obama to decide whether to authorize the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast, a project that splits unions eager for jobs from environmentalists fearful of pollution. Mr. Obama shelved the application until after the election and has suggested he would veto a bill that includes the unrelated pipeline provision.”
Amazed at this turn of events, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor this morning, “Today, the House of Representatives will vote on a bill that extends the temporary payroll tax cut as well as unemployment insurance, and which won’t add a dime to the federal deficit. In other words, the House bill would do both of the things the President and Senate Democrats have described as their top legislative priorities before the close of the year. So it was surprising to say the least to read this morning that President Obama and Majority Leader Reid are now plotting to block this very legislation — even to the point of forcing a government shutdown — over the inclusion of a job-creating measure that the President thinks will complicate his reelection chances next year. That’s what’s happening in Washington this week — and the American people need to know about it.”
Leader McConnell continued, “Yesterday, the members of the Senate Appropriations Committee — Democrats and Republicans alike — agreed to a spending bill that would fund that government through the end of the fiscal year. And today, Republicans in the House will pass a bill that contains the President’s top priorities: an extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance. But here’s the problem: the House bill also includes a provision to accelerate construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, a project that’s been described as the biggest shovel-ready project in America. And evidently the President doesn’t want this project approved before November of next year — because a small faction of very liberal voters he’s counting on to help him get reelected doesn’t like it.”
When it comes to the Keystone XL pipeline, Democrats are clearly putting politics first. Not only are Senate Democrats now threatening a government shutdown, the Obama administration’s delay of a decision on the pipeline is already costing jobs in Arkansas. According to Fox 16 in Little Rock, “Layoffs and a brief company shutdown is what employees face at Welspun Tubular Company, which makes steel pipes for the oil industry. Company leaders say miles of pipe are on the property and that has caused five dozen employees to lose their jobs. The pipes would be part of the Keystone oil pipeline, which is a project running oil from Canada to Texas. But plans are delayed on the federal level. Now leaders say the local job market is affected. ‘We had to make a staffing reduction with some of the temporary employees. Due to the KXL pipeline not being shipped out. We have 500 miles of pipe just sitting in the yard, expected to be shipped out, that some of the employees were working on,’ said President Dave Delie.”
This is a project supported by Republicans, Democrats, and labor unions, which doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime, and could create tens of thousands of jobs right away. It’s striking that the president and Senate Democrats seem so opposed to this bill that would foster job creation and energy independence that they’re willing to risk job losses and a government shutdown over the politics of it.
As Leader McConnell said today, “Unfortunately, the President just doesn’t seem to be happy these days unless he’s got an issue to divide us over. If the Republicans are proposing it, he’s against it, regardless of how many job losses it prevents or how many private-sector jobs it would help create. And he’s not even trying to hide it. The Majority Leader signaled yesterday that he and the President are so determined to turn even the most bipartisan job-creating legislation into a political issue that he’ll ask his members to hold off on signing the government-funding legislation they’ve already agreed to — just to hand the President what they view as a political victory this week. This isn’t just irresponsible, it’s reckless.”
Tags: Barack Obama, Harry Reid, politics, Keystone Pipeline, Washington, D.C., Us House, U.S. Senate To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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