Payroll Tax Cut | featured news

House Speaker John Boehner and his team of GOP negotiators gathered around a conference table in the Capitol on Wednesday to show they were hard at work -- although they have no one to negotiate with, not even Senate Republicans.

Republicans in the House on Tuesday rejected the Senate's two-month extension of an expiring payroll tax cut, and moved toward initiating formal talks with Democrats on a final deal.

As President Obama wrestles with congressional Republicans over an extension of the payroll tax cut, a new poll suggests that Obama is winning ...

President Obama's aides are seeking to pressure House Republicans in the hours leading up to a vote tonight on a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut, saying an adverse decision will subject nearly 160 million Americans to a tax hike next year.

Top House Republicans said Sunday they oppose a Senate-approved bill that extends a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for just two months and said congressional bargainers need to write a new version lasting a longer time....

The Senate passed a temporary extension of President Obama’s payroll tax cut, sending to the House a package that would preserve the $1,000 average tax break for 160 million working Americans – and inserting the issue squarely into the 2012 political campaign.

Congressional negotiators reached agreement Thursday on a compromise spending bill to avert a weekend federal shutdown. They also worked toward a deal renewing the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits for another year but prepared a shorter version as a fallback in case talks fell short.

Senate Republicans have thwarted a quick vote sought Wednesday by Democrats on a House-passed GOP bill to extend the payroll tax cut. Democrats called for the ballot to prove that the measure doesn’t have the votes to pass the chamber they control. In seeking the vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid said that the Senate needed to kill the House bill, which was approved Tuesday, to negotiate a settlement to the protracted partisan fight.

The proposal would pay for extending a payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits in part through changes to Medicare and a pay freeze for federal workers.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to introduce a compromise measure Monday to extend the payroll tax cut, according to a key Senate Democrat. “Majority Leader Reid called me yesterday and said he will propose tomorrow a compromise plan to extend the payroll tax cut,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said on “Fox News Sunday.” “He will offer it at that point – I don’t think it’s probably in my purview to announce his plan – but he indicated to me it will be paid for. It will be paid for in a serious way.”