Corker Comments on Payroll Tax Holiday Agreement
Press Release
U.S. Senator Bob Corker, R-Tenn., made the following statement today regarding an agreement reached between the House and Senate to extend various expiring policies for two-months, including the payroll tax holiday, unemployment benefits and a fix for Medicare physician reimbursement rates. The agreement, which passed both chambers today, appoints a conference committee of the House and Senate that will work on a longer-term extension of these provisions in the new year.
"I continue to believe a payroll tax holiday is poor public policy, but we all knew this was going to pass in some form or fashion, and I hope Congress will now focus on long-term measures that give real clarity and predictability like eliminating tax loopholes, lowering rates and broadening the base, reforming our entitlement programs so they are sustainable, and dealing with our country's out of control spending," Corker said.
The legislation passed today also requires President Obama to make a decision within 60 days on the Keystone XL pipeline, which would take oil from Canada through the U.S. to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Corker is a cosponsor of the North American Energy Security Act to prevent further delay of the pipeline, and in November, when the State Department announced it would delay its decision on the pipeline until 2013, Corker called on Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry to hold a hearing "to assess the full impact of postponement on U.S. industry, energy security, and economic growth."
In his letter to Chairman Kerry on November 17, Corker wrote: "With the unemployment rate at 9 percent, I have serious concerns about the impact this deferral may have on job creation. Reports indicate that the pipeline's construction will create up to 20,000 direct jobs immediately and could create tens of thousands of indirect jobs. Further, it would inhibit U.S. access to 800,000 barrels of Canadian oil daily from a stable and dependable economic partner, reinforcing our dependence on the Middle East and other volatile oil producing countries."
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