Today, U.S. Representatives Yvette D. Clarke, released the following statement after regarding H.R. 3630, the Republican Payroll Tax Cut Extension bill:

“Today, I voted against this egregious bill.  It is unfortunate that the Republican Party has decided to put political games ahead of the best interest of the American people.  Instead of bolstering the middle class, the GOP has decided to include cuts to unemployment benefits, cuts to Medicare and place a non-relevant oil exploration proposal in the legislation.  The truth of the matter is, this bill is toxic to the America people and dead on arrival in the Senate,” stated Congresswoman Clarke.

Provisions in the Republican Payroll Tax Cut legislation include:

        ·        A Medicare extender that would prevent the 27.4 percent in the 
                 Medicare physician payment rates slated to begin on January 1, 2012 and increase
                 payment rates by 1 percent in 2012 and 2013.  CBO estimates this would increase 
                 spending by $38.9 billion over 10 years;

        ·       a section  that requires the President to approve the Keystone XL pipeline within 
                60 days, short-circuiting the environmental review process and denying the public an 
                opportunity to comment;

        ·       a section that would undermine the Clean Air Act, rewriting the way EPA regulate 
                pollutant emissions;

        ·       a section that allows some states to require a drug test for some unemployment 
                benefit applicants;

        ·       a section that requires illegal immigrants to produce social security numbers in order 
                to qualify to receive children’s tax credits from federal checks; and

        ·       a section that reduces the number of weeks people can access unemployment 
                benefits from 99 weeks to 59 weeks.

“It is clear the main objective of the Republican Party is to help our nation’s wealthiest while the rest of the nation continues to struggle in this economic downturn.  Republican leaders have stated from day one that their number one goal was to get President Obama out of office at any cost.  Now it is at the cost of the 99 percent of this nation getting a fair chance at economic prosperity,” stated Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke. 

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