Congress Extends Payroll Tax Holiday - East Idaho News
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Congress Extends Payroll Tax Holiday

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Inauguration today%20030?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1329501473992ABC News(WASHINGTON) — After months of negotiations, Congress on Friday approved a comprehensive package to extend the Social Security payroll tax credit, unemployment insurance and the Doc Fix for Medicare doctors through the end of the year, delivering the bipartisan agreement to the president for his signature with less than two weeks to spare.

By a bipartisan vote of 293-132, the House voted first to approve the conference report. A short time later, the Senate voted to approve the bill, 60-36.

In total, 91 House Republicans voted against the measure, as did 41 House Democrats. Fourteen Senate Republicans voted in favor of the bill, while five Senate Democrats (Cardin, Harkin, Manchin, Mikulski, Warner) and one Independent (Sanders) voted in opposition.

The deal prevents a two-percent tax increase on middle-class families. Over the course of the year, an individual earning $50,000 would keep an extra $1,000 as a result of the extension. This aspect of the three-pronged deal was not offset with spending reductions, adding about $100 billion to the deficit.

The deal also extends the so-called doc fix through the end of the year, averting a 27.4 percent cut to physician payment rates and ensuring seniors and the disabled have continued access to the physicians serving our Medicare beneficiaries.

Furthermore, the agreement reforms unemployment insurance depending on the unemployment rate. Most states will receive a maximum of 63 weeks of benefits, compared to 46 states currently receiving 93 weeks of benefits now. But for states with higher unemployment rates, compensation is slowly reduced periodically over the next year, from 99 weeks through May, and up to 73 weeks of relief through December.

Most of the top House and Senate leadership on both sides of the aisle voted in favor of the bill, except Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, who opposed it because he believes federal employees absorbed too much of the sacrifice in offsetting some of the costs of the deal.

All Senate Republicans on the conference committee voted against the package. The only House conferee that voted against the package was Rep. Chris Van Hollen. Like Hoyer and many other members from Maryland and Virginia, the Maryland congressman said he opposed the measure because he felt it unfairly targeted federal employees, a key constituency in the Washington metro area.

Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., also one of the payroll conferees signed onto the conference report Thusday to allow the deal to proceed to a vote but he also voted against the bill. Cardin objected to how the deal funds the $30 billion cost of the unemployment insurance extensions.

Sen. Mark Warner said that although he’s glad the payroll tax credit was extended, he still voted against the measure because the payroll tax holiday was not paid for and reform of unemployment insurance will hit federal employees unfairly.

House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell both supported the measure, but criticized the president for failing to improve the economy and creating the necessity for an economic relief package.

Thirty-one freshmen House Republicans voted against the agreement. Rep. Ron Paul, who is seeking the GOP nomination for president, missed the vote.

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