You can no longer say House Republicans are opposed to job creation. Set aside for a moment President Obama’s creation of millions of jobs. John Boehner just led the vote to create 35 whole jobs! That’s right. Not 20. Not even 25. But 35.
Get out of the way of progress, Mr. President!
Of course, President Obama just finished up the best job creation year for a president since Bill Clinton in 1999 by creating 2.5 million jobs in 2014. The Republicans, on the other hand, have done everything possible for SIX YEARS to prevent the creation of even a single job.
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But John Boehner is bragging on those 35 permanent positions resulting from a dangerous oil pipeline that will enrich Canadian oil companies who will then sell the oil overseas.
As the Speaker of the House explains in a press release:
PRESS RELEASE
House Defies President’s Veto Threat, Approves Job-Creating Keystone Pipeline
January 9, 2015|Speaker Boehner’s Press Office
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the House once again voted, on a bipartisan basis, to approve the Keystone XL pipeline (H.R. 3), the third jobs bill passed by the House this week as part of Republicans’ continuing commitment to put Americans’ priorities – jobs and the economy – first. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement:
“In light of today’s Nebraska Supreme Court ruling, the president should reconsider his threat to veto the Keystone pipeline and the tens of thousands of jobs it will create. A presidential veto would put his own political interests ahead of the needs and priorities of the American people. There is no excuse – scientific or otherwise – for the president to continue blocking the pipeline. An overwhelming majority of Americans support this job-creating energy project and President Obama ought to respect their will and stop standing in the way.”
Tens of thousands of jobs. Of course, there are no tens of thousands of jobs. It will create precisely 35 permanent jobs. That’s not even one person from every state in the Union.
It is interesting that Boehner is pushing this “tens of thousands of jobs” line, because though he was pushing it back in 2011, in 2012, he admitted the project wasn’t going to create the promised 100,000 jobs.
It is true though that more than 35 people will be kept busy cleaning up the oil spills if Keystone XL is built. Maybe those are the 10s of thousands of jobs Boehner is talking about.
Of course, the real reason Boehner voted for the Keystone XL pipeline is not 100,000 jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, or even 35 jobs. The reason Boehner voted to go forward with this offense against the American people is that he stands to make a ton of money off of it due to his investment in the pipeline.
Republicans are a little late to rush to save the economy, especially as it has already been saved, no thanks to them. The proper response to Boehner’s announcement is laughter, and maybe a touch of amazement that Republicans continue to be so impervious to facts.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
