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US Economy - Page 12

Senate Republicans have blocked a Democratic measure to extend the payroll tax cut and assess a new tax on income over $1 million to help pay for it.

Sixty votes were needed for passage. The vote was 50-48.

A separate Republican bill to extend the payroll tax cut calls for freezing federal pay as well as reducing the federal workforce by 10%, provisions rejected by Obama and Democrats.

The lower payroll tax rate is set to expire at the end of the year. Ref. CNN

Economy US

The House of Representatives, led by a majority of Republicans, voted 234-192 today to extend the payroll tax cut and speed the process for government approval of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.

However, approval by the Senate appeared unlikely given strong opposition from the Democratic majority.

President Obama has said he would veto the measure, which attaches pipeline approval to the payroll tax cut, setting up further brinkmanship before Congress" holiday recess begins at the end of the week.

Congress had been debating the payroll tax cut extension and a spending bill that must pass in order to keep the government funded after Friday and avoid a shutdown. Ref. CNN

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Congressional negotiators have reached an agreement that could prevent a government shutdown, Democratic sources say.

A temporary resolution passed earlier this year to keep the government funded expires at midnight Friday. Lawmakers have approved seven stop-gap spending measures this calendar year.

Negotiators were signing off on a massive spending bill that funds the government through 2012, they told CNN Thursday night.

Both the House and Senate must vote on it.

The deal comes after heated talks between congressional leaders and the White House on Thursday. They were discussing ways to resolve their differences over measures to keep the government funded after Friday and to extend the payroll tax cut, which is set to expire at the end of the year. Ref. CNN

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The Senate on Saturday voted to extend the payroll tax cut by two months.

The short-term measure comes after both sides were unable to reach a comprehensive agreement to extend the cut and unemployment benefits for a full year.

The deal, passed in an 89-10 vote, includes a provision to speed up a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, giving the Obama administration 60 days to make a call on the project.

The House still has to vote on the measure.

The impasse involved how to pay for the programs for a full year, a Democratic source and a Republican source said. However, the two-month extension would be fully paid for, according to the sources.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said Democrats supported the proposed two-month deal because "that was the best we could get," as it was important to preserve the payroll tax break -- even temporarily.

Failure to pass the payroll ta x measure -- a major part of President Obama's job creation plan -- would cost working Americans an average of $1,000 in higher taxes next year.

Later Saturday, the Senate will take up a compromise spending bill to get the government funded for the rest of fiscal year 2012, which ends September 30. Ref. CNN

Economy US

The Senate on Saturday voted 67-32 to pass a compromise spending bill to keep the government funded for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends September 30.

The almost $1 trillion spending plan passed in the House on Friday. The bill now goes to President Obama to sign.

Earlier Saturday, the Senate voted to extend the payroll tax cut by two months. That measure awaits a House vote. Ref. CNN

US Economy

Speaker John Boehner said Monday morning that he expects the House to reject the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut bill that the Senate approved on Saturday.

Boehner also said he expects the House to pass legislation reinforcing the need for a one-year extension and wants the matter to be taken up by a House-Senate conference committee.

A Senate Democratic aide told CNN that the chances were "zero" that the Senate would return to Washington from its holiday recess to continue negotiating with the House on the issue.

The payroll tax cut extension expires at the end of the year and is worth roughly $1,000 a year for an average family. Ref. CNN

US Economy - Page 12

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said Monday he will not agree to reopen negotiations with House leaders on a payroll tax cut until the House passes the two-month extension already approved by the Senate.

Earlier Monday, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he expected the House to reject the tax cut bill that the Senate approved Saturday.

Boehner also said that he expected the House to pass legislation reinforcing the need for a one-year extension and that he wanted the matter to be taken up by a House-Senate conference committee.

Reid said in a statement that, "My House colleagues should be clear on what their vote means today. If Republicans vote down the bipartisan compromise negotiated by Republican and Democratic leaders, and passed by 89 senators including 39 Republicans, their intransigence will mean that in ten days, 160 million middle class Americans will see a tax increase, over two million Americans will begin losing their unem ployment benefits, and millions of senior citizens on Medicare could find it harder to receive treatment from physicians."

The payroll tax cut extension expires at the end of the year and is worth roughly $1,000 a year for an average family. Ref. CNN

US Economy Politics Business Civil & History - Page 12

House Republicans will likely prevent a vote on a Senate plan for a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Monday night.

GOP aides told CNN the vote would likely be scrapped to avoid having House Republicans oppose a tax break for working Americans. The vote had been expected Monday night, but after a long meeting of the House Republican conference, GOP leaders said they would wait until Tuesday.

Speaker John Boehner called for a one-year extension rather than the two-month extension passed by an 89-10 vote in the Senate on Saturday. "We"re willing to get the work done now and do it the right way," said Boehner, R-Ohio.

Moments later, Pelosi, D-California, countered: "It's just the radical, tea party Republicans who are holding up this tax cut for the American people and jeopardizing our economic growth."

The payroll tax cut is worth roughly $1,000 a year for an average family. The Senate bill also addressed expiring emergency federal unemployment benefits and the renewal of the so-called doc fix, a delay in scheduled pay cuts to Medicare physicians. Ref. CNN