SOTU Response: Domestic Production, Keystone Could Bring Jobs

President Obama devoted a considerable portion of his 6,963-word State of the Union Address Tuesday evening to job creation, but the approximately 65-minute-long speech failed to specifically mention the Keystone XL project that supporters say could generate 20,000 direct and more than 100,000 indirect jobs. At least, he did not mention the oil pipeline project by name.

Obviously referring to reports that the GOP may tie the extension of a federal payroll tax reduction to approval of Keystone XL, Obama called on Congress to stop "a tax hike on 160 million working Americans" so that they can keep an estimated $40 out of each paycheck.
Shortly before Christmas, Congress passed a bill preventing a federal payroll tax from increasing until the end of February. Obama signed the legislation, which called on him to make a decision on Keystone XL within two months. Thanks to Obama's decision to reject the project last week, the GOP's effort to advance the project failed. Obama advised Congress to focus solely on extending the payroll tax reduction.

"There are plenty of ways to get this done," Obama said. "So let's agree right here, right now: No side issues. No drama. Pass the payroll tax cut without delay."

In their responses to the address, a number of Republican elected officials were only too happy to refer to Keystone XL by name and remind the President of the jobs that would accompany it.

"He [Obama] claims to care about energy security, yet he stopped the Keystone pipeline -- and the 20,000 American jobs it would have created -- which would have done more than any other project to increase our energy security and revive our economy," said Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) in written statement.

In the official Republican response to the address, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels noted that Obama's Keystone XL decision and other energy policy moves by the administration have curbed economic growth and job creation.

"The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly safe pipeline that would employ tens of thousands, or jacks up consumer utility bills for no improvement in either human health or world temperature, is a pro-poverty policy," Daniels said. 

House Speaker John Boehner, who politely clapped during several of Obama's applause lines, verbally slapped at Obama's energy record in a blog posting criticizing the President's record on "Job- Creating Energy Projects." In reference to Obama's statement that the U.S. "needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy," Boehner's blog accused the administration of failing to encourage the Senate to act on House-passed energy legislation that reportedly would boost job creation by expanding domestic energy production. Specific bills that the House Speaker's office urged Senate action on include the following:

• Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act (H.R. 1230), which would require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct offshore lease sales delayed or cancelled by the administration. This legislation passed the House May 5, 2011, by a margin of 266-149
• Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act (H.R. 1229), which, among other things, would require the Interior Secretary to act on an offshore drilling permit within 30 days of receiving an application. The House passed this bill last May by a margin of 263-163.
• Reversing President Obama's Offshore Moratorium Act (H.R. 1231), which would require that each five-year offshore leasing plan include lease sales in areas estimated to contain 2.5 billion barrels of oil or 7.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This legislation passed the House last May by a margin of 243-179.

Boehner also ensured that Tuesday's event would include several living, visual reminders of Keystone XL. He invited a number of project supporters to sit in the speaker's box in the House chamber while Obama spoke.

In another GOP response to the State of the Union address, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul reminded the public that allowing Keystone XL to proceed would facilitate private-sector job creation. "The Keystone pipeline would instantly create thousands of jobs without costing the taxpayers a dime," Paul said, adding that it would enhance U.S.-Canada relations and lower America's dependence of oil imported from the Middle East.

"The Keystone pipeline was in America's best interest," Paul continued. "Yet the President rejected this pipeline and the American people, by siding with the liberal environmentalists instead--just as he did with Solyndra."