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Republican-led House defies Obama on payroll tax

U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry (R-LA) holds a sign during U.S. President Barack Obama's address before a joint session of Congress inside the chamber of the House of Representatives on Capitol Hill in Washington September 8, 2011. REUTERS/Larry Downing

U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry (R-LA) holds a sign during U.S. President Barack Obama's address before a joint session of Congress inside the chamber of the House of Representatives on Capitol Hill in Washington September 8, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Larry Downing

WASHINGTON | Tue Dec 13, 2011 6:55pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-led House of Representatives defied a White House veto threat on Tuesday and passed a bill to expedite approval of the Keystone XL Canada-to-Texas pipeline project.

The provision was part of a broader bill to extend a payroll tax cut for 160 million Americans. Democrats oppose Republicans' efforts to link the two issues and the measure is expected to die in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

(Reporting By Thomas Ferraro)
Politics
Environment
Barack Obama
Election 2012
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Comments (8)
dmj15 wrote:
How many times can the same ‘tax the rich’ dollar be spent? Taking money from already struggling programs (social security and medicare) and giving it to people who don’t work converts an earned benefit to a welfare program.

Dec 12, 2011 8:31pm EST  --  Report as abuse
4ngry4merican wrote:
dmj15 – The central issue involved here is an extension of the payroll tax cut. If you’re not on a payroll, you don’t get the tax cut. Please put down the Kool-aid and back away.

Dec 13, 2011 10:50am EST  --  Report as abuse
UnPartisan wrote:
I don’t like the payroll tax cut. We are putting 2% less taxes into social security each pay check. If the Democrats cared about social security this would have never been on the table to begin with.

Dec 13, 2011 5:16pm EST  --  Report as abuse
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