With Payroll Tax Holiday Agreement, Time for Congress to Focus on Long-term Solutions
Press Release
As we enter Christmas weekend and look forward to spending time with our family and friends, I know you join me in remembering our brave military families who have empty seats at their dinner tables due to deployment or a family member making the ultimate sacrifice for our country. I also know many families across our state are concerned about their futures because of our struggling economy.
Since coming to office in 2007, my staff and I have made access and assistance to our constituents a top priority. We have responded to more than a million letters from constituents and helped close to 20,000 individuals and families resolve issues with the federal government. I've visited all 95 Tennessee counties at least twice, held over a hundred town hall meetings and made more than 860 visits throughout the state since taking office, including over 200 visits this year. I thank you for taking the time to write, call and visit us in Tennessee and in Washington. The time I spend with my constituents not only informs my work, it reinforces my optimism that, despite our many challenges, we still live in the greatest country in the world and have much to be thankful for this holiday season. As we approach a new year, it also motivates me to work even harder to address the big issues facing our country, namely our country's battle with spending and debt. As we enter 2012, I reaffirm my commitment to all Tennesseans to wake up every day working to solve problems and get our country back on the right track.
We wish you and yours a very merry Christmas and look forward to serving you in the new year.
With Payroll Tax Holiday Agreement, Time for Congress to Focus on Long-term Solutions
Today the House and Senate voted 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 appoints a conference committee of the House and Senate that will work on a longer-term extension of these provisions in the new year.
Senator Corker reacted saying, "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."
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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