Payroll Tax Cut About Much More

Photo- Associated Press

It's laughable, really, to see the House Republicans saying they only care about the middle class and want the payroll tax cut to be extended for another year. Tea Party Republicans were united against any extension- holding to what could be their motto- "Never increase taxes on the 1%, just ask the 99% to pay more." Never mind that the 1% is paying less now than in any time in the last six decades- and everyone is being asked to make sacrifices but them.

They are parroting their talking points about the 2 month extension passed by the Senate (89-10) as being a band-aid- but the reason it was reduced to 2 months was because of the crazy demands the House GOP added to a year extension- demands like approving the Keystone XL Pipeline and making more draconian cuts to the safety net.

As Ezra Kline in the Washington Post said, "The single most important thing to understand about the ongoing debate over the payroll tax cut is that it’s not about the payroll tax cut." Democrats are right to stand firm against their shenanigans.

The Keystone Pipeline would be an ecological disaster- spewing three times the carbon emissions of producing conventional crude oil. Jim Hansen of NASA says it would mean game over in our battle to reverse climate change. According to TransCanada the company that wants to build the pipeline, it would create "hundreds" of permanent jobs, not the thousands the Republicans promise. The NRDC reports "A Cornell University study concludes the pipeline would actually kill more jobs than it would create by reducing investment in the clean energy economy that already employs 2.7 million Americans." It would put the American heartland at risk of more oil spills like the one that put 42,000 gallons of crude oil into the Yellowstone River. Keystone would cross 2,000 waterways and the Ogallala Aquifer that provides clean water to millions.

 Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/6-reasons-america-needs-to-say-no-to-the-reckless-keystone-xl-pipeline.html#ixzz1hBRwmnyd

Update- I just read that the Senate version did contain language that the president had to make a decision about Keystone in 60 days! WTF? And the House still rejected it as not going far enough. This really is a battle between the right and the far right and the result is that 160 million Americans are looking at a tax increase heading straight at them.

And here is a video of C-span in which the sound was cut off when Republicans were being called out for their intransigence. C-span said they have no control over what is broadcast, but Speaker Boehner does.