President Obama approved H.R. 3630, the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011 Saturday.
The bill extends for a year the Social Security payroll tax cut set to expire at the end of 2011 and yet another extension to unemployment compensation.
Notably, the bill allows for mandatory drug testing and denial of benefits for those who test positive for illicit drugs. Recipients must also be high school graduates or possess a G.E.D and be actively seeking employment.
These are positive steps, to be sure, but by far the most positive part of the bill regarding unemployment is enacting a time frame through which a decision must be made regarding the Keystone XL Pipeline project.
The project is projected to "directly create more than 20,000 high-wage manufacturing jobs and construction jobs."
Obama decided not to make a decision regarding approval or disapproval of the project until after the presidential election, choosing to appease the no-growth environmental wackos even to the detriment of his union base that supports the project, including the Teamsters and AFL-CIO. The majority of these 20k plus jobs would be union construction jobs.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers representative Bruce Burton advised Fox News earlier this month, "The Keystone XL pipeline is shovel-ready. As soon as a presidential permit is granted, jobs will be created -- jobs that our members desperately need."
CNN reported in October that Obama was warned by his millionaire and billionaire environmentalist benefactors who threatened to withhold campaign contributions if Obama didn't "do the right thing" and put a halt to the job creating project.
The CNN article was published October 28 and on November 10 the Obama Administration decided to delay the project until after the election, placing it under a review that "could be completed as early as the first quarter of 2013."
The bill approved Saturday gives Obama 60 days to make a decision regarding the pipeline.
On December 7th, Obama stated, "Any effort to try to tie Keystone to the payroll tax cut I will reject. So everybody should be on notice," during a press briefing with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, as shown in a Real Clear Politics video.
For once, Obama not being a man of his word is a benefit to the United States.
It is ironic that the president has to be rushed to make a decision that would create jobs during his "We Can't Wait" campaign.
The president has campaigned cross-country and issued numerous "We Can't Wait" press releases blaming Republicans for halting progress on theoretical job creation while at the same time he is obstructing tens of thousands of real jobs that would commence almost immediately.
In a White House press release, Obama is commended Congress for "extending unemployment insurance for millions of Americans who are out there trying as hard as they can to find a job."
Will Obama now clear the path for some of those people to find a job or will he continue to obstruct job creation?
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