Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says he won't support a payroll tax cut extension unless it includes language speeding work on a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline.
House Speaker John Boehner expressed the same view earlier Friday. The Ohio Republican told reporters that if the Senate sends the House compromise payroll tax legislation without the pipeline provision, the House will vote to put it back in.
McConnell spokesman Donald Stewart said Friday that the minority leader won't support a payroll tax bill without the pipeline provision.
President Barack Obama and many congressional Democrats are opposed to accelerating work on the proposed 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline. That conflict has been one of the major hurdles to a bipartisan compromise on the payroll tax package.
