The White House today vowed to "reject" GOP attempts to link an extension of his payroll tax cut to a speedy approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

President Obama's comments came during a joint appearance at the White House with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a major backer of the $7 billion link between his nation and the Gulf Coast.

House Republicans are readying a measure reupping the Social Security tax relief that is anticipated to include Rep. Lee Terry's (R-Neb.) plan for a fast-tracked approval of Keystone XL, which would significantly boost U.S. imports of Canadian oil sands crude if approved. The president's meeting with Harper, ostensibly focused on border security and trade, became a stage for pipeline debate as Republicans hammered Obama for his State Department's delay in deciding on a $7 billion project they bill as an irresistible job creator.

"Any effort to try to tie Keystone to the payroll tax cut I will reject," Obama said, while tempering his comment by predicting that "I don't expect to have to veto it."

Obama also extended his vow to other policy riders that could end up attached to a House-side payroll tax bill, decrying Republican "efforts to tie a whole bunch of other issues to what's something they should be doing anyway." GOP leaders are said to be weighing the addition of language blocking U.S. EPA rules for industrial boiler emissions to their payroll tax pitch in a bid to win over reticent conservatives (E&E Daily, Dec. 6).

Those same senior Republicans seized on the Obama-Harper appearance to prod the president for a reversal of State's move last month to put off a final decision on the XL link until after the 2012 election. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) urged Obama to use the Canadian meeting as an opening to immediately approve the 1,700-mile pipeline, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) delivered a floor speech hailing it as "the single greatest shovel-ready project in America."

But not only did Obama not take the bait, he defended State's decision to extend an environmental review of a new route for the contentious project through Nebraska.

"This is a big project with big consequences," Obama told reporters at the White House, with Harper standing by his side. "We've seen Democrats and Republicans express concerns about it."

State officials are making sure their review "crosses all its t's and dots all its i's" before releasing a final ruling on a permit for the pipeline, Obama added. Green groups hailed the delay as a sign that the administration was receptive to their condemnation of Keystone XL as a spur for greater greenhouse gas emissions, while industry groups lamented a delay they linked to election-year political concerns at the White House.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel indicated after Obama spoke that Republicans have no intention of backing down from their plans to tie Canadian oil supplies to the tax cut. "If President Obama threatens to veto [the forthcoming GOP bill] over a provision that creates American jobs, that's a fight we're ready to have," Steel said via email.

Harper, for his part, declined to "comment on the domestic politics of this issue or any other issue in the United States." His government has made increased export of Albertan oil sands crude a major priority, however, and indicated that the demise of the XL link could lead its fuel producers to turn their focus to Asian export markets.