Tell Congress: Get the Keystone XL Approval Out of Payroll Tax Bill
In a sneaky effort to get as much anti-environmental legislation through as they possibly can, Republican leaders have been busy tacking dirty riders onto sometimes completely irrelevant bills. The latest one was adding a rider to a payroll tax that will allow the highly controversial Keystone XL pipeline to proceed without an environmental and safety review.
Allowing underhanded techniques to get decidedly dubious legislation through is dishonest and unethical. This bill is about spending and taxes; the pipeline is completely unrelated and should therefore not be included in the legislation.
Moreover, the Keystone pipeline has serious environmental consequences and bipartisan opposition in the states where people are most likely to suffer from it.
Tell Congress that we see through their game. Stop gambling with Americans' paychecks to pander to Big Oil.
We are asking the House of Representatives to stop allowing dangerous and irrelevant additions to bills.
Legislation that would endanger the health of the American people and put the environment at risk needs to be assessed properly, not added to a bill about spending or tax.
In particular, the latest addition of the Keystone XL provision to the payroll tax is particularly dishonest. This underhanded technique must come to end. If politicians want to try and pass such legislation, they need to follow the proper procedure, not try and slip it in any way they can. We are asking for an immediate end to anti-environment riders like the Keystone XL rider.
