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It's "just kicking the can down the road. It's time to just stop, do our work, resolve the differences and extend this for one year. How can you have tax policy for two months?"
At issue, of course, is Republicans wanting greater domestic spending offsets in return for agreeing to these extensions. Still unresolved, time ran out as Congress prepared to adjourn for Christmas break.
On December 20, the House rejected the Senate bill. On January 17, the Senate adjourned until January 23. Throughout the holiday period into January, it'll hold nine pro forma sessions. Unfinished business remains unresolved until it returns.
Ahead of adjournment, Republicans extracted another major Obama concession after refusing to go along earlier. At issue is constructing a controversial 1,661-mile Alberta, Canada to Port Arthur, TX pipeline. For weeks, hundreds of environmental activists protested in front of the White House against it.
If completed, it'll carry toxic tar sands oil from Western Canada to refineries on America's Gulf coast. It'll pass through environmentally sensitive areas in six states, including waterways and the Oballala Aquifer. It's one of the world's largest. In America, it supplies about 30% of the nation's irrigation ground water.
Friends of the Earth says Keystone XL "will carry one of the world's dirtiest fuels: tar sands oil." Moreover, its route "could devastate ecosystems and pollute water sources, and would jeopardize public health."
If completed, it'll double America's dirty tar sands oil supply, making its environment more toxic. No matter the stakes, Big Oil wants it. So do Republicans and conservative Democrats. Obama once again conceded.
TransCanada Corporation will build it. It's spill-prone construction record assures trouble. It promised its Keystone I pipeline would leak once every seven years. In year one, it leaked 12 times or once a month on average. It was unprecedented in US pipeline history.
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