All of President Obama’s denunciations of the “do-nothing Congress” and fiery appeals for lawmakers to “pass this jobs bill now” may be blowing up in his face. Yesterday, the House approved one of the key pieces of Obama’s jobs bill, but also inserted a provision that would greenlight the Keystone XL pipeline construction. Now it’s the Democrat-controlled Senate and President Obama (who vowed to veto the legislation if its passed) standing in the way of the jobs bill:
Defiant Republicans pushed legislation through the House Tuesday night that would keep alive Social Security payroll tax cuts for some 160 million Americans at President Barack Obama’s request — but also would require construction of a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline that has sparked a White House veto threat.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has already warned Republicans that the bill has no shot in the Senate. It passed on a party-line vote in the House, with only 10 Democratic members supporting it after it had already cleared the bar.
Sure, the move is purely political. But so was Obama’s choice to delay a decision on the Keystone XL until after the election. Plus, the payroll tax cut continuation bill may not have received as much Republican support as it did if it hadn’t included the Keystone provision:
Highlighting the confrontation with Obama over the Keystone pipeline, [House Speaker John] Boehner has been able to win over conservatives who were initially opposed to the president’s push to extend the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits. In addition to the Keystone provision, Republicans included measures delaying environmental regulations, limiting the duration of jobless benefits and restricting benefits for illegal immigrants, among other sweeteners. They proposed to offset the cost of the bill in part by extending a federal-worker pay freeze and reducing certain Medicare benefits for the wealthy.
Senate Republicans blocked a quick vote on the legislation today, arguing that Reid and Boehner should work out the differences. Senate Republicans are trying to pressure Democrats to focus on passing a spending bill to keep the government running, but Democrats are reportedly withholding their support until the payroll tax cut continuation goes through.
Yet more of the same. The White House wanted Reid to stall on the bidget bill until the payroll tax bill had been dealt with.r nr nSen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) was on Morning Joe (MSNBC) recently. He said that it was a disgrace that Senate Democrats (Reid) had not passed a budget in over two years. Before that, a couple weeks ago, Manchin was on Face the Nation talking about how Obama continually fails to provide leadership.r nr nSen. McCaskillt(D-Mo) said today that Reid needs to drop the combative, partisan rhetoric.r nr nReid is incompetent. His only job is to run interference for Obama. He no longer serves his constituents.
GOP class warfare!
Reid does not seem in the best of health. And this whole payroll tax cut extension is, what? $20 a week for the average worker? This has nothing to do with equity or even bribing the electorate; it's only a political ploy from the usual gang of cynics in the White House. When did a tax cut need to be paid for? How about now. Another question, though. Since when did this country need, like, I don't know, oil and jobs? Immediately, but try telling that to the starry-eyed/cynical Gaia Luddite manipulators trashing the legacy of JFK's Democratic Party.