By a 51-48 vote the Senate passed President Obama’s plan cut taxes for the middle class and end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. An election year trap has now been set for House Republicans as they will have to kill tax cuts for the middle class.

Republican and Democratic Senate leaders set the stage for passage of the bill by waving the 60 vote rule, which allowed the legislation to pass with simple majority vote.

Republicans played their role perfectly by complaining that Democrats were voting to raise taxes on America’s “job creators.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “I mean, here’s the Democrat plan for the economy: we’ll get this thing going again by raising taxes. Let’s take more money out of a small business and send it to Washington that’s how we’ll create jobs. Let us create the jobs instead of the small business owners out there — they don’t create the jobs anyway, Washington does. If you’re looking for the legislative equivalent of the President’s now famous view that ‘You didn’t build that’, this is it.They don’t think you deserve to keep what you’ve earned because you’re not responsible for earning it. They are. That’s the message Democrats are sending with today’s votes, that you’re not responsible for your success, Washington is. So give us your money, and we’ll handle it for you. That’s their tax plan. That’s their plan for the economy and jobs.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “The majority of Americans, including a significant majority of Republicans, agree taxes should remain low for the middle class and the top 2 percent should pay their fair share to reduce the deficit. As I said, the majority of Republicans agree. The only place there is no agreement is with the Republicans in Congress.”

See how short and simple the Democratic argument is? McConnell had to weave an entire smokescreen of falsehoods centered around job creators and small businesses to justify his party’s opposition, whereas Reid was able to cut through the clutter with a simple argument about fairness. The traditional roles of the two parties have been reversed, and Democrats find themselves with the simple moral argument that iswildly popular with the American public.

Obama Sets a New Trap for Republicans as Senate Passes Plan To Kill Tax Cuts for the Rich

Jobs created - stated by TransCanada's own Pipeline Application to the State Department - estimates 4,000 - 6,000 temporary jobs throughout construction and approximately 50 permanent positions when the project is finished.

50 might-be American jobs, to transport Canadian Tar sands oil to Port Arthur, TX for Higher Priced Export. Not to help America's oil supply or lower prices for Americans, but merely helping Canada's Oil Producers make more money.

By the way, its already leaked 3 times - the last stopping the project for over 5 months.

High environmental risk for the U.S. when the benefits aren't going to come to us? For 50 jobs? I'll pass.