Obama makes Boehner’s job easier with payroll veto threat

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For House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), there’s nothing like a presidential veto threat to make his job easier.

The Speaker earned positive reviews for the revised payroll tax cut package he presented to the House Republican conference Thursday, a sharp turnaround from the resistance he faced from conservatives when he first outlined his plan last week.

Republican leaders added a number of sweeteners to the package to win conservative support, but several lawmakers said that more than anything else, the turning point was President Obama’s threat on Wednesday to reject the payroll tax bill if the House attached a provision forcing administrative action on the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.

Boehner defied the president on the issue and won over many skeptics in the process.

“The difference between this conference and the last one was palpable,” lamented one outspoken critic of extending the payroll tax cut, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). “I think a lot of it was the president and that threat.”

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) called the shift in attitude “a stunning change.”

“It was a 180-degree difference,” he told reporters.

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Its important to always read the fine print:

“The GOP measure’s cost, which exceeds $180 billion, would be fully paid for by freezing federal workforce salaries, requiring higher earning elderly people to pay more for Medicare and raising some federal fees. But it ignores the higher taxes on the rich that Democrats would use to cover the costs of their proposal.”

House GOP bill extends payroll tax cut, includes oil pipeline language drew Obama veto threat

This is H.R. 3620, the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011. The text isn’t up yet.

@Greg:
Greg, you need to see this:

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