GOP Defies Obama, Passes Payroll Tax Cut Measure

(Newsroom America) -- House Republicans Tuesday evening defied a veto threat from President Obama and passed a Social Security payroll tax cut extension bill that included a requirement to build a controversial oil pipeline from Canada to Texas.

The bill, which passed 234-193, would keep the tax cut in place through 2012 and would also extend some unemployment benefits, although at reduced levels. And it would require construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a project that Obama tabled until 2013, after next year's election, to allow more environmental impact study.

Republicans have criticized the decision, saying it comes at a time when the nation is should be trying to wean itself from volatile oil suppliers in the Middle East and South America, while creating jobs for the millions of Americans who are unemployed.

Opponents have said the pipeline, as proposed, would pass through environmentally sensitive areas in Nebraska, and feed the nation's addiction to oil.

"Today the House passed a bill that extends the payroll tax relief, extends and reforms unemployment insurance, and protects Social Security – without job-killing tax hikes," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said. "Our bill includes sensible, bipartisan measures to help the private sector create jobs. Now it’s time for the Senate to act."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., derided the measure as "ideological candy" for the Tea Party and predicted it wouldn't pass his chamber.

White House spokesman Jay Carney did not mention the oil pipeline but instead reiterated Obama's intention to have the legislation paid for by "asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share."

He added that lawmakers "cannot go on vacation before agreeing to prevent a tax hike on 160 million Americans and extending unemployment insurance."

Boehner said that would be up to Democrats.

"Now the Democrats who run Washington have a responsibility to act. The Senate can take up our bill and amend it, or it can pass its own bill. But the Democrats who run the Senate can’t continue to shirk their responsibility to govern. The American people are waiting on them," he said.

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