HE MUST HATE America.
The battle between the White House and Republicans over the Keystone XL pipeline escalated Wednesday with a veto threat delivered personally by President Obama.
Obama warned that he would veto an extension of the payroll-tax cut, his top legislative priority, if House Republicans link it to a measure that would force the administration to greenlight the pipeline project.
“Any effort to try to tie Keystone to the payroll-tax cut, I will reject,” Obama told reporters Wednesday after meeting at the White House with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Obama said he would not accept a payroll-tax-holiday bill to which Republicans add “extraneous” provisions.
“I don’t expect to have to veto it because I expect they’re going to have enough sense over on Capitol Hill to do the people’s business, and not try to load it up with a bunch of politics,” the president said.
Capitol Hill Republicans, backed by industry groups, want to force a quick decision on the pipeline, which the administration currently plans to review into 2013.
Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), said Republicans welcome a showdown with the president over Keystone.
“If President Obama threatens to veto it over a provision that creates American jobs, that’s a fight we’re ready to have,” he said.
House Republicans are pushing for swift approval of the pipeline, which would bring crude from Alberta’s oil sands projects to Gulf Coast refineries, and have discussed forcing action through the extension of the tax holiday.
The administration recently punted a final permitting decision on the controversial project until after the 2012 presidential election as the State Department continues to analyze the proposal from TransCanada Corp.
Republicans in the House and Senate, who say the delay was ordered to appease Obama’s pro-environment base, are pushing bills that would mandate a much faster decision while limiting the administration’s discretion to reject the project.
But Obama said extension of the payroll-tax cut is something that Republicans in both chambers should support on the merits, arguing it should not be held “hostage” to Keystone or other provisions.
“The question is going to be, are they willing to vote against a proposal that ensures that Americans, at a time when the recovery is still fragile, don’t see their taxes go up by $1,000?” Obama said.
“Efforts to tie a whole bunch of other issues to something that they should be doing anyway will be rejected by me.”
Environmental groups cheered Obama’s tough talk.
“We strongly applaud President Obama for standing up to Big Oil’s allies in Congress, who are leading a back-door attempt to advance the dangerous Keystone pipeline,” League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski said.
The American Petroleum Institute reaffirmed its call for quick approval of the pipeline and accused Obama of hypocrisy.
“The president’s decision to delay the shovel-ready project at a time of high unemployment is reckless. President Obama said lawmakers should not load the payroll-tax bill with a ‘bunch of politics,’ but it’s hard not to see ‘politics’ in delaying the decision on the Keystone XL pipeline until after the next year’s election,” API Executive Vice President Marty Durbin said.
The State Department announced last month that it is analyzing revised routes for the pipeline that would move it away from the ecologically sensitive Sand Hills region of Nebraska, a process that is not slated for completion until 2013.
Senate Republicans last week announced a measure that would require State to make a decision within 60 days on a permit for the project, which has been under review for several years.
House Republicans, meanwhile, are promoting new legislation that would hand the permitting decision to the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which would have to act quickly — the measure is crafted in a way that significantly limits FERC’s discretion to reject the project.
The pipeline is tricky political terrain for the White House.
Environmental groups bitterly oppose the project due to greenhouse gas emissions and other concerns, while a number of labor unions — another key part of Obama’s political base — back the project as a job creator.
It’s also a source of tension with the Canadian government, which supports it.
But Harper, speaking after his meeting with Obama that focused on border and trade issues, downplayed friction with Obama over Keystone.
“He has an open mind in regards to what the final decision may or may not be,” Harper said.
Obama on Wednesday rejected GOP claims that he delayed the final decision for political reasons, and defended the extended review.
“I think the prime minister and our Canadian friends understand that it’s important for us to make sure that all the questions regarding the project are properly understood, especially its impact on our environment and the health and safety of the American people,” Obama said after their meeting. “And I assured him that we will have a very rigorous process to work through that issue.” Updated at 8:05 p.m.
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