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Republican payroll tax cut plan fails in Senate

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Speaker of the House John Boehner talks during a news conference to discuss the American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Plan on Capitol Hill in Washington November 17, 2011. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Speaker of the House John Boehner talks during a news conference to discuss the American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Plan on Capitol Hill in Washington November 17, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON | Thu Dec 1, 2011 9:25pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Thursday blocked a Republican plan to extend the payroll tax cut for workers for one year.

By a vote of 78-20, the Senate defeated the Republican legislation. Earlier, the Senate killed a Democratic version of the payroll tax cut extension.

Senate leaders are expected to begin negotiating a compromise. Under current law, the payroll tax cut for workers is scheduled to expire on December 31.

The House of Representatives has not yet come up with its version of a payroll tax cut extension but is expected to do so now that Speaker John Boehner has signaled his support.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan)
Politics
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Comments (10)
Buelligan wrote:
“Senate leaders are expected to begin negotiating a compromise.”

In other words, if you work for a living you will be paying more taxes next year.

Dec 02, 2011 10:10am EST  --  Report as abuse
Andao wrote:
Senate Democrats propose a tax cut, and Republicans reject it. It’s clear they don’t really care about cutting taxes, only scoring political points. Incredible.

Dec 02, 2011 10:40am EST  --  Report as abuse
Bert2 wrote:
In the meantime, these senators passed a $662 billion defense budget for next year. Can everybody please stop for a moment and look at that amount: two thirds of one TRILLION dollars. That is almost as high as the 2008 economic stimulus package. And WHY do we not cut defense by $100+ billion/year??? We spend SIX TIMES what China spends on defense, so please stop fiddling in the margins on payroll tax cuts and give the american people a refund on defense spending. $300 billion over 300 million citizens would get every man, woman, child, a $1,000 refund.

Dec 02, 2011 11:06am EST  --  Report as abuse
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