President Obama has dismissed a Republican attempt to link passage of a Social Security payroll tax cut to support for the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. Republican leaders have suggested they could back the tax cut in return for Obama’s immediate approval of Keystone, instead of delaying a decision until next year. At a news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Obama rejected drawing a link between the tax cut and Keystone.

President Obama: “Any effort to try to tie Keystone to the payroll tax cut, I will reject. So everybody should be on notice. And the reason is because the payroll tax cut is something that House Republicans as well as Senate Republicans should want to do regardless of any other issues.”