WASHINGTON — Legislation to speed approval of the Keystone XL pipeline passed the House on Tuesday as part of a broader package wrapping up many end-of-the-year items, including an extension of the federal payroll tax cut.
The bill was approved 234-193, with 224 Republicans and 10 Democrats voting in favor. The GOP bill would require a decision on the controversial pipeline project within 60 days, while continuing the search for a new route around Nebraska's Sand Hills.
The State Department has suggested that the Republican gambit would not allow enough time to complete legally required reviews of the project and thus would result in no permit being issued.
That prompted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to say Tuesday that by putting a deadline on the pipeline, Republicans would "kill the hostage" and doom the project.
Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., who has pushed the Obama administration to move faster on the pipeline, scoffed at those warnings, saying the State Department has all the information it needs to make a call on the pipeline.
"This is the same department that said 'Definitely we'll have you the decision by Dec. 31st,' now saying that they need more time. Hmmmm. Interesting. All politics," Terry told The World-Herald.
Terry, who voted for the bill, cited reports that an Arkansas pipe-making company has been laying off workers because of delays on Keystone XL.
"They're costing people their jobs by delaying it," he said. "Politics shouldn't be delaying this. They should make their decision. If they're not going to allow the pipeline, then make that decision so companies like this can lay everybody off and go bankrupt."
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., voted against the bill, saying he opposes extending the payroll tax cut because he thinks it would jeopardize funding for Social Security.
The chief actuary for the retirement system has said the fund would be unaffected.
Those voting for the legislation included Reps. Steve King, R-Iowa; Adrian Smith, R-Neb.; Tom Latham, R-Iowa; and Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa.
The tax cut expires Dec. 31, and Reid warned House Speaker John Boehner in a phone call that GOP leaders have spent too much time catering to their conservative flank rather than negotiating with Democrats on a compromise.
"This is what I told him: We are not going to finish the work of our country this year unless we work together," Reid said. "They are wasting time catering to the Tea Party when they should be working with Democrats on a bipartisan package that can pass both houses."
To bring Republicans to the table, Democrats have slow-walked an unrelated year-end spending bill that is needed to keep the government running, preventing the GOP-led House from finishing work and leaving town for the holidays.
Such a strategy is risky, as Congress must approve the funding bill or the federal government will shut down on Friday. But the leverage proved irresistible. President Barack Obama, in strategizing with Reid over the weekend, insisted that the bills be linked. Obama said that "nothing gets done until everything gets done," according to a senior administration official.
Republicans were caught off guard by the move and thought they had a handshake agreement with Democrats on the spending bill. But Democrats said unresolved issues remained — including provisions on abortion, travel to Cuba and funding levels for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which plays a role in Wall Street regulation.
"Here we are with a government shutdown pending Friday, a deal already made, and I think it's appropriate to ask the president and the majority leader why they want to undo a deal that was already made and threaten to shut down the government here the week before Christmas," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
The payroll tax cut, which has been in place for 2011, reduces the Social Security contribution workers pay from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent, giving some 160 million average workers an extra $1,000 in their paychecks that would be gone after Dec. 31 if the cut is not extended.
The GOP proposal would replenish the lost contributions to the Social Security trust fund by making spending cuts elsewhere in the budget. Republicans shun the Democrats' proposal for a surtax on people making more than $1 million a year. Instead they propose reducing long-term unemployment insurance, cutting federal workers' pay and asking upper-income senior citizens to pay more for Medicare, among other provisions.
Obama said last week that he would reject any effort to tie the oil pipeline to the payroll tax cut. In its veto threat on Tuesday, the White House complained that the House Republicans were protecting the wealthy and injecting "ideological issues into what should be a simple debate about cutting taxes for the middle class."
The bill now goes back to the Senate, where neither the Democratic nor Republican proposal has been able to pass.
This report includes material from Tribune Washington Bureau and the New York Times.
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