GOP-backed bill would fast-track pipeline, extend jobless benefits
By Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Republican leaders predict that a bill that would both extend a payroll-tax cut and fast-track a controversial oil pipeline will pass the House of Representatives on Tuesday, setting up a clash with the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Obama administration.
House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said that the bill will pass with bipartisan support, and essentially defied Democrats to reject what he said is a job-creating measure.
“It will be time for the United States Senate to act,” Boehner said.
But the inclusion of a provision to speed up approval for the Keystone XL pipeline between Canada and the U.S. Gulf Coast makes the bill a non-starter in the Senate.
President Barack Obama has also vowed to reject any move to extend the payroll-tax cut that is linked to the pipeline. His administration has delayed a final decision on the project until 2013.
Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said Tuesday that Republicans were adding “ideological candy” to the debate over how to move forward on a payroll-tax cut extension.
Both parties want to keep the payroll tax from going up to 6.2% on Jan. 1 from its current reduced rate of 4.2%. But so far there’s been no agreement on how to pay for extending the break. Senate Democrats have sought to slap a surtax on incomes of $1 million and above to pay for it, a move Republicans have rejected.
The Republican bill would also extend unemployment benefits and prevent cuts in Medicare payments to doctors.
“If Sen. Reid wants to hold up the jobs bill, then he will go on Santa’s naughty list. It is Christmas, it is not Halloween,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, a member of the Republican leadership, on Tuesday morning.
Robert Schroeder is a reporter for MarketWatch in Washington.
