Boehner's SOTU Guests: A Statement on Keystone XL Pipeline

January 25, 2012

House Republicans are striking back against President Barack Obama’s overtly political move to invite billionaire Warren Buffett’s secretary to sit with First Lady Michelle Obama during tonight’s State of the Union.

Speaker John Boehner will host some elected officials and business executives who had a stake in the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which Mr. Obama recently delayed. Republicans have criticized Mr. Obama’s decision. In a press release Tuesday, Mr. Boehner’s office refers to the four guests as “leaders and job creators hurt by the president’s decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline extension.”

The move follows the White House’s announcement that Mr. Buffett’s secretary, Debbie Bosanek, with Mrs. Obama, a decision meant to underscore one of the president’s tax proposals that sparked a bitter fight between him and congressional Republicans last year. Mr. Buffett has famously complained that Ms. Bosanek’s tax rate is higher than his, prompting Mr. Obama to propose the so-called “Buffett Rule,” which would require a minimum tax rate for Americans making more than $1 million a year. Mr. Obama was to provide more details on this proposal, aides said Tuesday, the same day GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney released his tax returns showing he paid only about 14% of his income in federal taxes—a rate lower than many Americans because his earnings were from investments, not wages. READ MORE