WASHINGTON ? A standoff over an expiring payroll tax cut, federal unemployment benefits and other measures escalated Tuesday as the U.S. House moved a bill to sew up several end-of-year loose ends that was rejected by the Senate and White House before it even passed.
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The GOP-crafted Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act also included a measure to quickly move ahead with the controversial Keystone XL oil sands pipeline that would run from Canada to Texas.
The bill stands little chance of passage in its current form, as a party line vote of mostly Republican positions on taxes, health care and energy might indicate. The bill reduces federal unemployment benefits for 114,000 Georgians and raises Medicare premiums on possibly tens of thousands of seniors.
But both parties have expressed a desire to extend this year's payroll tax cut ? which would save the average family $1,000 next year ? to employee Social Security withholding. In addition legislators are working to extend expiring federal unemployment benefits and welfare payments, and forestall major cuts in Medicare physician payments.
The payroll tax bill, a measure to fund the government through September and a defense spending bill are the week?s principal agenda items as Congress seeks to leave town for the holidays. All require complex bills and a tightrope act in a divided government that has enacted very few laws of significance this year, and usually at the last possible moment ? approaching a government shutdown or debt default.
House Speaker John Boehner?s bill had many hotly debated components, but accomplished its aim to mostly hold the GOP caucus together. The 234-193 vote saw 14 Republicans, including Lawrenceville Rep. Rob Woodall, cross the aisle to vote no, and 10 Democrats, including Savannah Rep. John Barrow, buck their party to vote yes.
The party lines held for the remaining Georgia members. Republicans Tom Price of Roswell, Phil Gingrey of Marietta, Lynn Westmoreland of Coweta County, Paul Broun of Athens, Tom Graves of Ranger, Austin Scott of Tifton and Jack Kingston of Savannah all backed the bill. Democrats John Lewis of Atlanta, David Scott of Atlanta, Hank Johnson of DeKalb County and Sanford Bishop of Albany voted against the measure.
The key for Graves, one of the most conservative members in the House and one who often votes against GOP leaders, was the fact that the new spending was offset with cuts elsewhere. The bill freezes federal salaries and reduces Medicare benefits to high-income seniors, among other savings.
?Last year I did not support some of these components, and the reason was the Democrats at that point chose not to find ways to shrink the size of government to offset the expense of these things,? Graves said.
The most controversial piece of the bill was a provision forcing the State Department to make a swift decision on approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, a determination President Barack Obama had put off until after next year?s election. Combined with a section rolling back Environmental Protection Agency regulations on industrial boilers, Republicans said the intent was to create jobs, while environmental groups and many Democrats cried foul.
?It creates tens of thousands of jobs, if not more,? House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said at a news conference.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a floor speech, trashed the bill by calling it a ?pointless partisan exercise? that is ?dead on arrival? in the Senate. Reid reportedly is holding up the government funding bill -- with a potential shutdown looming Friday as appropriations expire -- until a payroll tax deal is struck
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Follow the money
Tell us who would become very wealthy if this pipeline goes through
I dont know but I would like to.
That would tell the fawking story
