House Passes Payroll Tax Cut Extention with Keystone XL Pipeline … Will Obama Veto?

The US House of Representatives passed the payroll extension  234-to-193. H.R. 3630 was supported by 224 Republicans and 10 Democrats, that included the addition of the Keystone XL pipeline.  President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill. The question remains, why would Obama not want to further a “shovel” ready job project that would put many back to work? Isn’t this what he claimed his presidency was about, putting people back to work?

Defying a veto threat from President Obama, the House on Tuesday passed a bill extending a cut in Social Security payroll taxes for 160 million Americans for another year. But the Democratic majority in the Senate vowed to reject the measure because of objections to other provisions, including one to speed construction of an oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast.

The 234-to-193 vote set the stage for negotiations between the House and the Senate that were likely to continue into the weekend.

Now we shall see whether President Barack Obama backs up his words and vetos the bill since it contains the Keystone XL pipeline. The Lonely Conservative thinks that he will not have to play Grinch, as US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will do so instead.

As it turns out, Obama may not have to veto anything, thanks to Senate Majority Leader Harry  Reid (D-NV), who said that if Republicans include anything in the bill the Democrats don’t like he will allow the government to shut down. He’s tying the tax cut extension to the omnibus funding bill. The Hill reported:

Who shall blink first and who will get the blame if the payroll tax cuts are not extended?