Payroll Tax

With the supercommittee in the rearview mirror, Congress returns to session this week to battle on new fronts: a possible extension of the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits that expire at year's end that President Obama wants renewed. Failure to extend the payroll tax break would result in an average $1,000 tax hike for working Americans on Jan. 1, an outcome both Republicans and Democrats hope to avoid. The Senate will vote on the proposal this week, but it is likely to fail in the face of GOP opposition.

A Times editorial on Wednesday called on Congress to shore up Social Security quickly, as its looming insolvency would only get more difficult to address as time dragged on. But Business columnist Michael Hiltzik, in a piece that ran the same day , wrote that Social Security benefits should be expanded. Hiltzik pointed out that the Social Security Trust Fund ran a large surplus last year. Noting the difference in outlook between the two articles, reader Bob Murtha of Santa Maria wrote: "Times editorial board members and Hiltzik need to get together to compare notes.

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details. One day after House GOP leaders announced they would abandon their insistence that a payroll tax break be paid for with spending cuts, negotiators are now close to a broader deal that would also extend unemployment benefits and ensure Medicare doctors don't see a pay cut, sources said. The possible breakthrough Tuesday comes after a tumultuous 24-hour period when House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio)

Re "Fix Social Security, now," Editorial, April 25 It's hard to take this editorial seriously because it fails to talk about the Social Security payroll tax holiday enacted in 2010. If you want to fix Social Security, the first thing you need to look at is rolling back this tax break. With every extension of the payroll tax holiday, the prospect that Congress will ever restore the tax to its statutory 6.2% of covered income becomes increasingly remote. In case you haven't figured it out yet, this is the tax that funds Social Security, so it should be no surprise that Social Security will run into trouble if we don't pay it in full.

President Obama thanked Congress for renewing a payroll tax cut and extending unemployment insurance benefits "just in the nick of time for the holidays," while urging lawmakers to ditch the "drama" when they return from vacation and re-open a debate about keeping these measures in place for a full year. Obama's four-minute statement in the White House press briefing room came one day after House Republican leaders ended an impasse that had thrown in jeopardy a payroll tax break that means $1,000 a year to a typical household.

With a final deal approved by negotiators, Congress moved toward a Friday vote to extend a payroll tax break and other expiring measures that are among President Obama's top priorities. The expected votes in the House and Senate would cap a tumultuous week that produced a deal with prominent detractors on both sides of the political aisle. But as the Feb. 29 deadline neared for the expiration of the tax break, the compromise reflected the desire by Republicans to move on to other battles.

The GOP-led House is ushering forward bills to freeze federal employee pay and ban welfare recipients from accessing their benefits through ATMs at casinos or strip clubs -- moves intended to give Republicans leverage for including those proposals in negotiations to extend President Obama's payroll tax holiday for the remainder of the year. Democrats have been cool to such measures and are likely to dismiss them in talks to extend the payroll tax break. Negotiators met Wednesday to resolve the standoff on the tax break, which expires Feb. 29, and are expected to meet again Thursday.

Congress gave final approval to payroll tax cut legislation Friday, also maintaining Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors and long-term unemployment benefits. The bill had earlier passed the House, 293-132, facing opposition from Republicans and Democrats. In the Senate, it passed 60-36. President Obama is expected to sign the bill quickly. After the vote, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said, "I am disappointed that it took this long for Republicans to agree to a full-year extension, but I am glad that we were finally able to get this done for the middle-class families and seniors who were counting on it.” In December, a short-term extension of the payroll tax cut was passed, but the new bill faced opposition from House Republicans, who were demanding spending cuts to the pay for the measure.

Congress swiftly passed a bill Friday extending the payroll tax cut through the end of the year, ending a months-long tug of war with an unusual bipartisan accord. The House passed the bill on a 293 to 132 vote, with Democrats helping to put the legislation over the top in the face of 91 Republican no votes. A few minutes later, the Senate passed the legislation, 60 to 36. President Obama welcomed the passage of the bill, which also includes an extension of long-term unemployment benefits and blocks a scheduled 27% cut in Medicare payments to doctors.

After a day of shutdown talk and stalemate, Senate leaders opened today's business with smiles and sunny dispositions. After talking with appropriators and Republican leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he's hopeful about the prospects of reaching a deal on a bill to extend the payroll tax cut and fund the government before a Friday deadline. "We hope that we can come up with something that would get us out of here at a reasonable time in the next few days," Reid said this morning.

Republicans are the party of business and the rich. Democrats are for the working man. That's what my dad always said.   Dad, I think you were on to something. The Times reported Thursday that the Republican-led House approved a 20% business tax break for companies with fewer than 500 employees. Republicans say it will boost the economy, but Democrats say it will add $46 billion to the deficit and that it favors wealthier business owners, celebrities and sports teams.

In a sign of just how bad congressional dysfunction has gotten, Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked the advancement of a transportation bill, a piece of legislation that traditionally has enjoyed broad bipartisan support. The vote was 52-44, short of the 60 needed to take up the bill.  "I don't know why everything we do has to be a fight," lamented Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said that the parties are close to an agreement on amendments that would be brought up for consideration.

The accepted response to the economic deal reached in Congress last week, extending the Social Security payroll tax holiday and unemployment insurance and maintaining reimbursement levels for Medicare doctors, is huzzah! Finally Congress got something important done with a minimum of brinkmanship and posturing, and more than a few minutes before the deadline. A threat to the embryonic economic recovery was averted, and the extensions even pushed any subsequent fracas over the same issues to the end of this year, safely past the presidential election.

WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives voted 293 to 132 Friday to extend a payroll tax cut and maintain Medicare reimbursement rates. The bill is expected to be voted on in the Senate  later in the day. In December, a short-term extension was passed, but the new bill faced opposition from House Republicans, who were demanding spending cuts to pay for the measure. This week, House Speaker John Boehner said he was willing to compromise, paving the way for the bill to move ahead.

Congress swiftly passed a bill Friday extending the payroll tax cut through the end of the year, ending a months-long tug of war with an unusual bipartisan accord. The House passed the bill on a 293 to 132 vote, with Democrats helping to put the legislation over the top in the face of 91 Republican no votes. A few minutes later, the Senate passed the legislation, 60 to 36. President Obama welcomed the passage of the bill, which also includes an extension of long-term unemployment benefits and blocks a scheduled 27% cut in Medicare payments to doctors.

If lawmakers thought passing a tax cut deal would give them a reprieve from the president's Congress bashing, they were sorely mistaken. Speaking at a Boeing factory in Everett, Wash., President Obama gave Congress a backhanded compliment shortly after lawmakers passed a yearlong extension of the payroll tax cut, unemployment insurance benefits and other measures the president has called key pieces of his jobs legislation. “This is a big deal,” Obama told a group of Boeing workers shortly after the plan was passed.

Congressional negotiators have reached a tentative agreement on a two-month extension of President Obama's payroll tax cut, with a vote expected in the Senate on Saturday, sources said. Democrats and Republicans could not find consensus on how to pay for a yearlong extension of the tax break, which expires on Dec. 31 and gives an average $1,000 benefit to 160 million. It assures the volatile political issue will continue into the new year. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said he expected the compromise would find support.

Congress gave final approval to payroll tax cut legislation Friday, also maintaining Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors and long-term unemployment benefits. The bill had earlier passed the House, 293-132, facing opposition from Republicans and Democrats. In the Senate, it passed 60-36. President Obama is expected to sign the bill quickly. After the vote, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said, "I am disappointed that it took this long for Republicans to agree to a full-year extension, but I am glad that we were finally able to get this done for the middle-class families and seniors who were counting on it.” In December, a short-term extension of the payroll tax cut was passed, but the new bill faced opposition from House Republicans, who were demanding spending cuts to the pay for the measure.

With a final deal approved by negotiators, Congress moved toward a Friday vote to extend a payroll tax break and other expiring measures that are among President Obama's top priorities. The expected votes in the House and Senate would cap a tumultuous week that produced a deal with prominent detractors on both sides of the political aisle. But as the Feb. 29 deadline neared for the expiration of the tax break, the compromise reflected the desire by Republicans to move on to other battles.