Roll Call reports tonight that there’s a deal in the Senate to vote out a bill that takes care of several “politically must-pass” items — the payroll tax cut bill, extension of unemployment, and the doc fix — that includes the Keystone XL Pipeline:
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The White House has been rather desperate to kick the pipeline decision past the next election, so as not to offend the sensitivities of environmentalists. The fact that there’s even a deal to vote on this is a sign that someone miscalculated in the Obama White House. The provision in question forces a decision on the pipeline within 60 days.
Instead of boxing in the Republicans, the White House seems to have boxed itself in. It can cave, showing weakness, or it can allow working families to see their paychecks diminished by the return of the full payroll tax — something for which President Obama, being the president, would not likely escape blame.
