Congress is struggling to resolve a complex year-end standoff that has enmeshed both payroll tax-cut and omnibus spending legislation. Dozens of environmental riders are making compromise more diffficult. President Obama has threatened to veto the payroll tax bill if GOPers attach an amendment forcing him to act on the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
"Prospects for a year-end congressional compromise on key tax and spending legislation grew more complicated Tuesday, as the Republican House passed a controversial version of a payroll tax cut extension despite a veto threat from the White House.
The increasingly contentious tax dispute threatens to derail what had been an emerging compromise on separate legislation to fund the government through next September, raising the specter of a possible government shutdown this weekend if the conflict is not resolved by Friday.
Approved on a vote of 234 to 193, the Republican tax bill would extend a one-year break in the payroll tax that is due to expire at the end of the month, setting the rate at 4.2 percent for the year instead of allowing it to revert to 6.2 percent. But it also would accelerate the construction of an oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast that the White House is determined to slow down."
Rosalind S. Helderman and Felicia Sonmez report for the Washington Post December 13, 2011.
SEE ALSO:
"Ten Things To Watch in Spending Fight" (The Hill)
"Senate Dems: GOP Light Bulb Rider a Sticking Point in Spending Deal" (E2 Wire/The Hill)
"GOP’s Dim Bulb Obsession Threatens Government Shutdown" (Think Progress Green)
"House Passes Extension of Cut to Payroll Taxes" (New York Times)
"Payroll Tax Cut Row Threatens Gov't Shutdown" (CBS News)
"Fate Of Payroll Tax Cut, Jobless Benefits Uncertain As Lawmakers Haggle" (NPR)
Editorial: "The Payroll Tax Fight and Government By Brinkmanship" (Los Angeles Times)
Editorial: "The Insidious Fine Print" (New York Times)
