House passes payroll tax cut extension on The Murfreesboro Post

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House passes payroll tax cut extension

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By: MARIE KEMPH, mkemph@murfreesboropost.com

Posted: Thursday, December 15, 2011 12:01 am

House passes payroll tax cut extension | Keystone XL Pipeline,Diane Black,Taxes, Politics, Congress, GOP, Barack Obama, Democrats

U.S. Rep. Diane Black holds a press conference to discuss a budget proposal Dec. 7 in Washington, D.C., following morning committee meetings. (Photo submitted)

The U.S. House voted in favor Tuesday of extending the 4.2 percent payroll tax cuts as part of a larger measure that authorizes the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

“Today, the House held the line on multiple areas while forcing the issue of jobs to the forefront,” said Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) in a press release. “We helped our economy in the best way (we) can: We got Washington, D.C., out of the way by lifting the Environmental Protection Agency’s job-crushing boiler regulation and preventing further delay of the job creating, energy-rich Keystone XL pipeline.”

The payroll tax extensions have been bogged down in Congress for weeks in partisan gridlock. Several Republican representatives tried to block Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) from putting the measure to the floor, arguing more funds should not be steered away from Social Security.

Although the bill passed, many Republicans expressed increasing concern over the financial solvency of Social Security, which is funded by payroll taxes.

“However, we cannot lose sight of the end goal,” Black said. “Congress must work to make Social Security stronger and sustainable, instead of seeking short-term gratification at the expense of the program.”

With the unemployment rate still hovering at 9 percent, the amount of people paying into the Social Security fund through paychecks remains below normal levels – meaning the extension further reduces the amount of available funds.

“Facts are stubborn things, and right now the real unemployment rate in this country would be 11 percent if people had not simply stopped looking for work,” Black said. “The past three years have seen unprecedented government expansion under the guise of job creation, and yet Americans today are still struggling.”

She added the White House and U.S. Senate should do more to work with Republican representatives to address the ongoing unemployment problem.

However, President Barack Obama strongly advocated for the extension, citing if the payroll tax credits ended, the average middle-class family would see nearly a $1,000 tax hike next year.

Boehner, who did not want Republicans to be blamed for a tax hike, was eventually able to coax members of his own party to pass the measure, including Black. After the proposal passed, however, several Republican representatives touted the bill’s passage.

“Most importantly, we did not raise taxes on middle class American families,” Black said. “We substantially reformed unemployment insurance in order to get people back to work, and we took steps to help small business grow in the stagnant Obama economy.”

Black said in addition to Social Security, other federal programs should also be reformed and reevaluated.

“We need to permanently fix Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors and not at the continued expense of our rural providers,” she said. “And this Congress needs to be about the real, lasting solutions that will get our economy and our country back on track.”

Tagged under Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats, Diane Black, GOP, Keystone XL Pipeline, Politics, Taxes

Member Opinions:

By: protector on 12/17/11
I realize the cloud that hangs over the SS funding issues, but my perspective on this will be different than most other M'boro readers. I advocate the construction of pipelines in the US and any benefit given to those who are involved with it's construction and usage as our family receives dividends from TAP...Trans Alaskan Pipeline, the largest pipeline in America. My husband has a small % Tlingit Indian blood which is the tribe which owns the pipeline. The US is taking a step in the right direction in using AMERICA's natural resources avaliable in one territory and expanding it across the mid-west with the Keystone XL pipeline.

By: klagee1970 on 12/20/11
Protector, the Keystone XL would pipe CANADIAN oil sands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. It would not be a step toward using "...AMERICA'S natural resources." This is not an argument for or against (I'll leave that for others), just a correction.

By: klagee1970 on 12/20/11
Also, President Obama has promised to veto the payroll tax extension, which by the way was his idea, if the House Republicans added any unrelated provisions regarding Keystone XL. When he does so, Republicans will claim he's raising your taxes. Of course, it is the House Republicans who are threatening to punish working Americans in an attempt to serve the interests of the big oil companies.

By: publius on 12/20/11
The pipeline is not a bad idea, it just goes over America's largest aquifer. Why not move it to a safer route. This pipeline benefits Canadians and America. as for Diane Black really she's for the middle class.