House Minority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told reporters Thursday that both parties are closer than one would think on a plan to extend payroll relief, saying lawmakers “can probably resolve the differences in an hour.”
“It all comes down to the pay-fors [and] the budgetary impact,” Cantor said during a press conference with Republicans tapped to serve on the legislation’s conference committee.
Cantor’s remarks come as House Republicans continue their standoff against the President and the Senate over conflicting plans to extend a tax cut on the paychecks of approximately 160 million Americans. A two month extension was passed with an overwhelming majority in the Senate last Saturday and was expected to clear the House. However, the lower chamber’s Republicans balked at the proposal, and instead insisted on a full year plan.
During Thursday’s briefing, Republicans reiterated their demand for both Senate leaders and the President to return to the negotiating table.
“I saw the President out yesterday doing his Christmas shopping, I saw he brought his dog with him,” Cantor quipped. “We’re here. He can bring his dog up here. We’re pet friendly.”
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 11:50AM | Benny Martinez
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) were snubbed by House Republicans Wednesday as they sought to call up, yet again, the Senate-passed payroll tax cut extension.
Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) was serving as the presiding officer in the House when Hoyer and Van Hollen asked to be recognized to speak on the House floor. Fitzpatrick, however, failed to recognize the Maryland duo and gaveled the session closed to a protesting Hoyer.
“You’re walking out, you’re walking away, just as so many Republicans have walked away from middle-class taxpayers,” Hoyer said on the floor as Fitzpatrick closed the session and left the chamber. “We regret, Mr. Speaker, that you have walked off the platform without addressing the issue of critical importance to this country.”
Hoyer then yielded time to Van Hollen who was cut off when the microhphones were shutdown and the cameras stopped rolling. The House Recording Studio decided to end C-SPAN’s coverage of the floor while Hoyer and Van Hollen continued to call for unanimous consent on taking up a House version of the payroll package that mirrors that which passed the Senate.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered her support for the efforts pursued by Hoyer and Van Hollen, saying that House Republicans “voted yesterday to raise taxes on the middle class.”
“House Republicans stand alone, and unless they act responsibly and agree to the bipartisan short-term bill approved by Senate Republicans and Democrats, millions of Americans will see a tax hike,” Pelosi said in a statement. The House GOP must listen to the American people and allow a cote on the bipartisan Senate compromise.”
Both Hoyer and Van Hollen said that they would “be here everyday, waiting for [the House Speaker and House Republicans] to come to the floor of the House to take up this legislation and get it done.”
House GOP leaders and conferees continue to push for Senate Democrats to appoint its own group of negotiators to conference with the lower chamber, but Democrats seem adamant about first passing a two-month extension of the payroll tax holiday before renegotiating a year-long extension early in 2012.
Neither party, however, has answered questions over how the end of the year would develop without any progress. Moving forward, it seems as though the first to blink will concede; the problem is, their eyes may already be closed.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 11:18AM | Benny Martinez
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), flanked by Republican conferees selected to negotiate a final payroll tax holiday deal, again pleaded with Senate Democrats Wednesday to return to Washington, appoint conferees and “do the people’s work.”
“All we’re asking for is to get the Senate Dems over here to work with us to resolve our difference so we can do what everybody wants to do; extend the payroll tax credit for the next year,” Boehner told reporters.
Cantor said that the only item separating the two parties is the duration of a potential extended payroll package. A bill passed by the Senate would’ve extended the payroll tax holiday, unemployment insurance and doctor reimbursements for two months. House Republicans, however, disapproved of that, arguing that the extension should be lengthened from two months to an entire year.
So lies the current debate that has yet again forced Congress to work into the eleventh hour to reach consensus, this time on an issue that would directly affect more than 160 million Americans. it’s no wonder a whopping 86 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing, according to a recent Gallup poll.
House Republicans, though, have vowed to stick around as long as it takes for a deal to get done. Considering both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have announced that they would not be appointing conferees, it’s not likely that the two chambers will reach a deal via conference.
“Republicans are committed to a full-year’s tax cut for families… and we’re willing to work throughout the holidays to make sure that happens,” Rep. Kevin Brady, a GOP conferree, said. “So Mr. President, Senate Democrats, vacation’s second, do your jobs first.”
President Obama made a surprise appearance in front of White House reporters today to urge House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the rest of his conference to quickly approve a Senate bill to extend the current payroll tax holiday for another two months.
Obama unexpectedly entered the briefing room to interrupt his top spokesman, Jay Carney, and send a direct message to Boehner and other House leaders.
“I need the Speaker and House Republicans to…put politics aside. Put aside issues where there are fundamental disagreements and come together on something we agree on. And let’s not play brinksmanship. The American people are weary of it. They’re tired of it. They expect better. I’m calling on the Speaker and the House Republican leadership to bring up the Senate bill for a vote.”
“Right now the bipartisan compromise that was reached on Saturday is the only viable way to prevent a tax hike,” Obama added.
Just a short while before Obama made his remarks, the House voted to move to conference on a measure it passed last week to extend the two percent tax cut for one whole year. The vote essentially served as a rejection of the temporary extension, which the Senate passed on Saturday by a vote of 89-10.
Though Boehner has already appointed eight conferees, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has yet to do the same. When asked whether Obama would lean on Reid to follow suit, Carney replied, “the House oughtta pass the [Senate] measure.”
Later, when asked why leaders don’t take a few days off from negotiations and re-visit the issue next week, Carney replied, “there is a very easy solution here, pass the Senate bill.”
UPDATE — House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) called on Senate Democrats and President Obama to remain in Washington throughout the holidays to “work out our differences” and extend a payroll tax holiday for one year rather than approving a temporary, two-month extension.
“We’ve done our job, all we need now is to resolve our differences,” Boehner said Tuesday shortly after the House diapproved of a Senate bill to extend the payroll tax holiday. “There’s no reason we can’t do this in short order.”
Boehner also made clear, that despite previous reports that the House would adjourn following Tuesday’s votes, House GOP leadership and a handful of negotiators will remain “ready and able” to finalize a year-long extensions before Jan. 1. According to the Speaker, Reps. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), David Camp (R-Mich.), Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.), Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.), Tom Price (R-Ga.), Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Greg Walden (R-Ore.) would be on hand and in Washington through the end of the year.
The House Speaker questioned the willingness of President Obama to increase his involvement by demanding Senate Democrats reconvene to hash out an agreement.
“Now it’s up to the president to show real leadership,” Boehner said. “He said that won’t leave town for the holidays until this bill is done. I think President Obama needs to call on Senate Democrats to go back into session move to go a conference, and to sit down and resolve this bill as quickly as possible. We’ve done our work for the American people and now it’s up to the president and Democrats in the Senate to do their obs as well.”
This story was updated at 2:34p.m. EST…
UPDATE — Just before 1:00p.m. EST Tuesday, the House voted 229-193 to disapprove of the Senate’s two-month payroll holiday extension, calling the upper chamber back to conference to work out their differences.
The vote puts pressure back on Senate Democrats to reconvene even though Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has already said the upper chamber was done with votes for the year. Reid took to his Twitter account to respond to the House’s latest vote.
“Happy to cont. negotiations on a yearlong deal as soon as #House passes the #Senate’s compromise, & prevents tax hike from hitting mid class,” Reid tweeted.
Reid’s statement indicates that Senate Democrats will not likely return to conference with House Republicans.
According to a Democratic aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity, following the lower chamber’s scheduled votes Tuesday, House members plan to follow suit with the Senate and adjourn for the holidays, leaving no window for a conference to actually take place.
“No conference, no nothing, everything expires,” the Democratic source said.
This story was updated at 1:26p.m. EST…
WASHINGTON - The House is expected to vote Tuesday on a plan that would send a Senate-passed, two-year payroll tax cut extension into conference, a procedure that would allow Republicans to reject the upper chamber’s bill without actually voting against it.
Though House Republicans will not formally reject the Senate-passed extension with a vote, GOP leaders have said that the move to conference with the upper chamber would serve as a vote against the Senate’s bill.
House Republicans are vehemently opposed to the duration of the two-month extension drafted in the Senate. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has said it is an attempt to “kick the can down the road for 60 days” and Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) has said the “two-month bill would do more harm than good.”
Despite an 89-10 vote in the upper chamber and approval from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Republicans have opted to bring the bill to a conference in an effort to reach a deal that would extend the payroll tax package for a full year rather than accept a two-month-long extension. Democrats are taking the opportunity to label House Republicans as obstructionists.
“Speaker Boehner should allow an up-or-down vote on the compromise that Senator McConnell and I negotiated at Speaker Boehner’s request, and which was supported by 89 Republican and Democratic senators,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement. “It would be unconscionable to block a bipartisan agreement that would protect middle-class families from the thousand-dollar tax increase looming on January 1. It is time for Speaker Boehner to follow through.”
Reid has indicated that he will not re-open negotiations over the duration of the payroll tax holiday until the House passes the two-month extension.
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 11:28AM