President Obama challenged Republicans to come up with a way to maintain the payroll tax extension and extend unemployment benefits to millions of Americans.
The GOP-controlled House of Representatives did just that, and added on a provision designed to force a decision on a much-needed project to boost employment and lessen our dependence on foreign oil. But instead of welcoming a reasonable fix, the president and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, are crying foul and promising to kill the legislation — workers and the unemployed be damned. The source of their angst? The legislation would force the administration to make a decision — not approve, just make a decision — on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which has the potential to add about 700,000 more barrels of oil a day and thousands of new jobs. The administration in November announced that a decision on the controversial project, which was first proposed in 2008 and received the go-ahead from Canadian regulators in 2010, would be delayed until 2013 — conveniently after the presidential election. Also, there are demands for an environmental review as the result of a Nebraska law signed last month that altered the pipeline’s route through the state to avoid the Sand Hills region and Ogallala Aquifer. The pipeline, which would run from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf Coast in Texas, also holds the promise of giving the U.S. more energy independence and more time to develop viable alternative energy industries. There are abundant oil and gas deposits in low-porosity shale formations in Canada and the U.S. that now are being tapped for domestic use and for export to foreign countries like China. The pipeline is needed to get them to U.S. refineries and consumers, and has growing support from some Democrats. The bill — which preserves Social Security payroll tax cuts for about 160 million Americans at Obama’s request, extends unemployment benefits and the Medicare “doctor fix” and includes key parts of his jobs program — creates a dilemma for the president because it doesn’t raise taxes, something he has sought for the top U.S. earners. Instead of a partisan knee-jerk response, the president and Senate should try to reach a compromise that keeps extra income in the pockets of millions of Americans and quickly puts people to work building the pipeline, all wrapped up in a holiday package the president can accept. This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
