Change! Obama "Requests" The EPA Withdraw Job Killing Proposed Ozone Regulations

John Boehner and Eric Cantor have been hammering Obama on the danger his regulation fetish poses to the economy.

Two days ago Obama defended many of his regulations and pointed out many were just proposals that might not be imposed. Today, by chance I'm sure, some of those regulations were tossed under that bus.

President Obama abruptly pulled back proposed new national smog standards Friday morning, overruling the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to compel states and communities nationwide to reduce local air pollution in the coming years or face federal penalties.

The move represented a win for the business community, which had lobbied to postpone new restrictions on ground-level ozone—known as smog—until 2013 in light of the current economic downturn.

In a statement, Obama praised EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson’s effort to improve the nation’s air quality, but said he had asked her to withdraw the draft standards since they were scheduled to be reconsidered two years from now anyway.

I'm sure Obama's liberal base will just love that.

Boehner isn't letting up. Reacting to today's job news, he went on the offensive against Obama's "triple threat" to the economy.

Boehner said private-sector job growth “continues to be undermined by the triple threat of higher taxes, more failed ‘stimulus’ spending and excessive federal regulations."

“Together, these Washington policies have created a fog of uncertainty that’s left small businesses unable to hire and American families worried about the future,” Boehner said.

...

Boehner’s statement was markedly different in tone from that of Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who suggested that there might be room for compromise between the administration and House Republicans.

Noting that Obama will “finally unveil his latest jobs plan” next week, Cantor said he believed there would be areas where Republicans and the White House could “work together to produce real results that will help job creators get people back to work.”

Expect liberals to go nuts over this stuff. They'll see it as giving in to Boehner and the GOP who will only be emboldened to demand more. And they'll be right. Obama's promised his TRILLION plus dollar, so-called "stimulus" would have unemployment under 7% by now and that without it we'd be at 8%. Well, we got it and unemployment is over 9% and the White House itself says it's going to be there for the next year at least. By their own lights, Obama's approach has made things worse, so you're damn right the GOP is going to try and move him, kicking and screaming if need be, to policies that will not only improve the GOP's electoral chances but improve the nation's economy. As the old saying goes, you can do well while doing good.

Thanks to David Hauptmann for the EPA story tip.

Mitch McConnell wants in on this and comes off the top rope with some quality snark.

This action alone will prevent more job losses than any speech the President has given

Heh.

posted by DrewM. at 11:17 AM

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