US House Republican leaders Thursday said they had no plans to drop an effort to accelerate approval of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline from a key end-of-year tax package.
President Barack Obama promised Wednesday to reject any attempts by Congress to link expiring payroll tax cuts and unemployment insurance with the controversial permitting process for the 1,600-mile crude oil pipeline.
House Speaker John Boehner appeared emboldened by the White House's veto pledge. He told reporters that his members had agreed to move a bill that would extend unemployment benefits and the payroll tax credit and would contain riders speeding Keystone and delaying environmental rules for industrial boilers.
"You know, the president says that the American people can't wait on jobs," he told reporters at the US Capitol. "Well, guess what? We agree wholeheartedly with the president. The Keystone pipeline project will create tens of thousands of jobs immediately."
Boehner said the pipeline has bipartisan support in both chambers. He called the State Department's yearlong delay of a final decision a convenient maneuver by Obama to avoid repercussions during his reelection campaign.
"At a time when the American people are still asking the question, "Where are the jobs?" I think this is a bipartisan proposal that the president ought to endorse," Boehner said.
Obama said Republicans would be holding the payroll tax cuts hostage if they attach unrelated provisions to it.
"My warning is not just specific to Keystone," he said. "Efforts to tie a whole bunch of other issues to something they should be doing anyway will be rejected by me."
