Senate could pass a jobs bill this week

Republican Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown speaks after his ceremonial swearing-in at the Capitol, February 4, 2010.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional leaders said on Tuesday they could get a job-creating bill through both houses soon for President Barack Obama to sign into law.

After weeks of partisan bickering and delays due to a record snowstorm, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he planned to bring up the $15 billion package of tax cuts and highway spending for a vote by early Wednesday.

Once the Senate approves the measure, the Democratic-led House of Representatives could quickly give it final congressional approval.

"That is an option," said House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer, though he added that no decision had been made.

Another option would be to try to combine the Senate bill with a $155 billion measure earlier approved by the House, a process that could take weeks and imperil its chances of winning final approval.

Protracted negotiations also could disrupt funding for a highway-construction program included in the Senate bill that otherwise would expire on Sunday.

"There is a desire to get a bill passed as quickly as possible," a House Democratic leadership aide said.

Obama and his fellow Democrats say their top priority this year is to bring down the nation's 9.7 percent unemployment rate before the November congressional elections.

New Republican Senator Scott Brown and four of his Republican colleagues crossed the political aisle on Monday to give the Democrats the 60 votes needed to advance the measure.

The bill is expected to pass the Democratic-led Senate, though it may have to clear another 60-vote roadblock to overcome a Republican objection that it violates budget rules.

The bill centers around a payroll tax break for businesses that hire unemployed workers, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office deems as among the most effective ways to boost short-term job creation.

Some liberal lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have said the tax credit could waste money because it would go to firms that planned to hire anyway.

Reid said he was preparing a second jobs bill that would include a 30-day extension of soon-to-expire unemployment benefits and healthcare subsidies for the jobless.

Unemployment benefits are scheduled to run out on Sunday for 1.2 million people thrown out of work by the worst recession in 70 years, according to the National Employment Law Project.

That second bill could include a package of popular tax breaks, including a credit for companies' research and development costs, that expired at the end of 2009.

It also could include provisions to help small business, Reid said.

Other items likely to be in the second bill, according to an aide:

* An extension of the Medicare health-insurance program's payment rates for doctors to avoid a 21 percent pay cut scheduled to take effect on March 1;

* Aid to state governments to help pay for rising costs for Medicare, the health-insurance program for the poor;

* Elements of the anti-terrorist Patriot Act which would expire on March 1.

* An agreement that allows satellite TV providers to carry broadcast TV signals, which also would expire on March 1.

(Editing by Alan Elsner and Paul Simao)