GOP attaches pipeline to payroll tax bill
AP
WASHINGTON - Republicans claimed enough support to muscle legislation through the House on Tuesday that would continue a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers, a vote that would shift the battleground to a staunchly opposed Senate.
House GOP lawmakers emerged from a closed-door meeting Tuesday morning expressing confidence and daring President Barack Obama and the Democratic-led Senate to oppose them at a time when the economy remains on its knees. The roughly $180 billion bill, which would also extend unemployment benefits and prevent deep cuts in Medicare payments to doctors, has drawn Democratic opposition focused on language forcing work on a proposed oil pipeline.
"You can't be for the middle class" and oppose the tax cuts and job creation the bill contains, said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.
"Mr. President, we can't wait," Cantor said. "That's why we are putting forward this bill to make sure that we are there for the middle class of this country."
Thousands in D.C. protest pipeline
The House GOP bill has virtually no chance of prevailing in the Senate, in part because it includes language speeding work on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada that Obama wants to delay until after next year's elections. Democrats want to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits and block the cut for doctors, but say the Republican package asks too much of low- and middle-income earners and not enough of the wealthy.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Republicans of adding "ideological candy" to the legislation, a reference to the oil pipeline, and catering to tea party conservatives. Obama has promised to reject any bill containing the Keystone language, which would give the administration 60 days to approve a permit for work to begin.
Obama said last month that work on the 1,700-mile pipeline, slated to run from Alberta, Canada, to Texas, needed to wait for studies on how to avoid damaging environmentally sensitive lands in Nebraska. The postponement would allow the White House to sidestep a pre-election dispute that has pitted business and labor unions against environmentalists.
Some conservatives remain unhappy that the House bill is too costly, but others said those concerns were outweighed by their support for the pipeline language and changes the bill would make in the unemployment program.
"On the whole, there's a lot more ice cream than there is dirt" in the bill, said Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz.
Democrats complain that the bill does not do enough for unemployed people coping with one of the worst U.S. economies in decades. The bill prevents extra benefits for the long-term unemployed from expiring on Jan. 1, but would gradually wind down maximum coverage to 59 weeks, well below the current 99-week ceiling.
"This is one of the most punishing bills I've ever seen," said Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y. "We're basically saying to people who are unemployed, `How dare you lose your job."'
The measure would make other changes in the unemployment program, including giving states the right to administer drug tests to applicants for benefits.
The bill would retain this year's 4.2 percent Social Security payroll tax rate paid by workers in 2012, preventing it from popping back up to its normal 6.2 percent on Jan. 1 if Congress doesn't act. Obama got Congress to reduce the tax a year ago in an effort to leave more money in peoples' wallets and prod the limp economy, and GOP leaders pushing to renew the tax break next year have had to overcome objections from some Republicans who say it has done little to revive the economy.
The legislation would also prevent an automatic 27 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements for doctors in January, a reduction that could force some to stop treating Medicare patients. Instead, their reimbursements would rise by 1 percent each of the next two years.
The measure includes a range of other provisions, including language blocking a proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule curbing industrial pollution; preventing illegal immigrants and others who lack Social Security numbers from collecting the children's tax credit; and stopping welfare recipients from using their electronic benefit cards to pay at casinos and strip clubs.
Republicans would largely finance their bill by extending the pay freeze on federal workers for another year through 2013, and forcing them to contribute more to their retirement plans; raising the fees the government-run Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge lenders to back their mortgages; gradually charging higher-income seniors more for their Medicare premiums; and selling portions of the broadcast spectrum.
Obama and congressional Democrats proposed a deeper payroll tax cut for workers next year and sought to trim the payroll levies that employers pay as well. In another major difference with Republicans, they would pay for their legislation by raising taxes on people earning over $1 million a year.
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I'll guess you are a big talker and little doer eh fedup12?
how do you get that from my few comments on here. I gave you my bonafides the other day when you were spouting off. I especially dont know how you get that I am from the coast in my commnets here. I am about as far away from the coast as you can get on the continent. I am like 60 miles from the Geographical center of the USA. My state actually has a dog in this hunt.
But I dont feel one way or the other about the pipeline. I just dont like hypocrits like you that spout stupid things like "Pollute it, its OK we will clean it up"
That costs so much more than just not polluting in the first place it is unbelievable. That is why they call it the SUPERFUND you superfreak.
Who said this? No, not some ENIVRO.
The speaker was Fred Upton, Republican from Michigan, describing a 20,000 oil spill on the Kalamzoo River. Of course, as a typical Republican, Upton did not tell the whole truth. The spill came from a TransCanada pipeline from the Keystone project. It was only a few years old.
This incident illustrates the basic problem with the Keystone project. Di-Bit is a mixture of highly toxic and corrosive chemicals. These chemicals rapidly gnaw holes in pipelines. Keeping a Keystone Pipeline in good repair will quickly eat into the profits, making the Keystone Pipeline unprofitable - without extensive government subsidies.
Extreme weather patterns, cased by Global climate will create additional stresses to the Pipeline, requiring more costly repairs, more costly maintenance, again eating away the profit.
While Congress just passed the Pipeline Safety Regulatory Act, we have no guarantee that these safety provisions will be enforced. Right now, the Republicans, who are pushing the Keystone Project are busy trying to gut the EPA. They want to block the EPA from enforcing laws that are already on the book. A little bribery from the right people, and the GOP will got the Pipeline safety bill as well.
So again. Re-read Fred Upton's statement on the effects of one 20,000 gallon spill from the Keystone Pipeline, and remember this spill will repeat itself over and over again.
Actually, a handful of union jobs plus a couple thousand low-paying manual labor jobs.
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Low Paying? You haven't tried to hire any pipe line fitter/welders or heavy equiptment operators lately have you.
Besides, Canada is going to sell this oil and have this product processed or refined somewhere in the world, but I guess we don't need ANY of the jobs here in the US that this might create.
If you're worried about another pipe line, pull up Penn-Wells map of exsisting pipe lines in service now in the US. There are a lot more than you think.
Are you still on here spouting all the monkey on your head nonsense.
Let the VOTE truly count and not the DOLLAR so that we have representatives...and not GOP (or GREED Opposition Party) obstructing a democratic process of government.