Area lawmakers are split on who they think is at fault for leaving unsettled an extension of the payroll tax cut.
The U.S. House vote on Tuesday rejecting the Senate approved two-month extension, drew a swift rebuke from President Barack Obama that Republicans were threatening higher taxes on 160 million workers on Jan. 1.
The House vote, 229-193, kicks the measure back to the Senate, where the bipartisan two-month measure passed on Saturday by a sweeping 89-10 vote. The Senate then promptly left Washington for the holidays. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says he won't allow bargaining until the House approves the Senate's short-term measure.
The House also turned down an extension of jobless benefits for two months.
The President, appearing in the White House briefing room after the House vote, said the two-month compromise is the only way to stop payroll taxes from going up by two percentage points.
“Now let's be clear,” Obama said in a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room. “The bipartisan compromise that was reached on Saturday is the only viable way to prevent a tax hike on January 1st. The only one.”
House Republicans controlling the chamber want instead immediate negotiations with the Senate on a year-long plan. But the Senate's top Democrat on Tuesday again ruled out talks until the House passes the stopgap measure.
Politics
Pa. Congressman Pat Meehan (R-Pa.7th District) said he supports long-term tax relief and was critical of the Senate-passed 60-day extension of the payroll tax cut.
“We can surely do better than a two-month band-aid. Seniors shouldn’t have to worry that come March their doctor won’t see them anymore, and hardworking taxpayers need to be able to plan their finances over a term longer than two months, said Meehan.”
Fellow Republican Jim Gerlach (R-Pa. 6th District) also voted in favor of the House resolution calling on the Senate to continue working on a full year of middle class tax relief.
“The Senate’s temporary gimmick would only contribute to the already widespread uncertainty forcing businesses to hold off on hiring workers and putting a damper on economic growth. In addition, the Senate’s temporary gimmick basically tells seniors on Medicare that if they are planning on getting any kind of treatment, they’d better make an appointment in the next 60 days or there might not be a doctor to care for them after that. It is just absurd to leave doctors and seniors in limbo, said Gerlach. “The Senate needs to come back to work and finish the job by providing a full year of middle class tax relief and ending the threat of a 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians.”
NJ Democrat Rush Holt (D-NJ 12th District) faulted some in the GOP for the apparent inability to resolve the tax extension debate.
“As much as I hate to interfere with the Tea Party’s evident desire to prove their political cluelessness once and for all, extending payroll tax relief, extending unemployment benefits, and maintaining seniors’ access to doctors are too important to struggling families and to our economy, said Holt. “I stand ready to return to Washington any day, including on Christmas, to finish the work that they should have let us finish weeks ago.”
A lapse of the tax cut means that about $2.5 billion a week more would be withheld from paychecks, though the money could be returned retroactively to taxpayers.
Medicare announced Tuesday that, as it has in the past when doctors' reimbursements have been cut through congressional inaction, it would withhold physician payments for two weeks in January to avoid passing on a 27 percent cut in Medicare fees. The hope is that the problem gets fixed by then.
