From the outbox of Meyer’s inbox:
There are some things that are hard to let go of. Personally for me this means a favorite Batman logo T-shirt, a pair worn out slippers and an autographed “Dirty Jobs” baseball cap. Of course, if I accessibly cling to those items no buys really good to be hurt by that. Over in Washington it would seem that many members of Congress are developing a very strong attachment to the Keystone pipeline. This is a pipeline that is supposed to run oil from Canada all the way down through the United States ending up in Louisiana. At first congressional Republicans try to tie a speedy approval of the Keystone project to the payroll tax cut. The president acquiesced and made that speedy approval. Unfortunately the answer was no. Now it appears the Republicans are going to try again attaching the Keystone project to an upcoming jobs bill. Sometimes it’s just hard to quit a pipeline.
BOEHNER: HOUSE WILL LIKELY ATTACH KEYSTONE APPROVAL TO NEW JOBS BILL
By Jake Tapper, ABC News
Speaker John Boehner says that the House will try again to tie approval for the Keystone pipeline project to a new jobs bill being introduced next week.
“All options are on the table. If it’s not enacted before we take up the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, it’ll be part of it,” Boehner said of the Keystone project, which would extend an oil pipeline from Canada through the United States.
Boehner led an unsuccessful effort to attach approval of the Keystone project to the extension of the payroll tax cut in December, but had to back down after not securing Senate support.
The Obama administration declined approval for the pipeline extension after saying they did not have enough time to study the enviromental impact, drawing criticism from conservatives who say the project would create needed jobs.
“Now that the president has decided for political reasons that we’re not going to move ahead just yet, not until after the election… we’re going to have to find another way to lean on the Senate, to take this issue up, because the Keystone pipeline will create … over 100,000 indirect jobs,” Boehner told me on “This Week.”
“This is the epitome of a shovel-ready job project that the president ought to be approving,” Boehner added. ”And if he won’t, then let’s let the Congress approve it.”
While Republicans will likely tie the Keystone project to the new jobs bill, Boehner said that “there will be no earmarks in this bill.”
“One of our great successes of last year is that we passed all these bills, done good work, working with the Senate, with no earmarks,” Boehner said.
