TPMDC Doc fix: February 2012
Payroll Tax Cut
Senate Passes Payroll Tax Bill Over Broad GOP Opposition
Harry Reid (D-NV) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Quick on the heels of the House, the Senate has passed legislation to extend a two percent payroll tax cut through the end of the year.
The final vote was 60-36 with 30 Rs and 6 Ds bucking their leaders to oppose the package. It now goes off to a jubilant White House for President Obama's signature.
The legislation, which also extends emergency unemployment benefits and Medicare reimbursement rates until January 1, 2013.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Doc fix, Medicare, Payroll Tax Cut, Unemployment
Payroll Tax Cut
House Passes Payroll Tax Cut Compromise
John Boehner
By a comfortable margin, the House of Representatives on Friday passed legislation to extend a two percent payroll tax cut through the end of the year.
The final vote was 293-132, with 91 Republicans and 41 Democrats bucking their party leaders to vote against the package. Five Republicans and four Democrats did not vote.
The bill reflects an agreement between GOP and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. It also extends emergency unemployment insurance though December, though it reduces the number of weeks in which people looking for work can draw on benefits. And it means that Medicare physicians won't experience a steep pay cut by extending their reimbursement rates for at least 10 months.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Doc fix, Medicare, Payroll Tax Cut, Unemployment
Payroll Tax Cut
Payroll Tax Drama Exposes Rift Between House And Senate GOP
The House and Senate have cut a deal to extend the payroll tax cut, unemployment benefits, and Medicare physician reimbursement rates. But it almost didn't happen. And the near miss is exposing a rift between House GOP leaders and their Senate counterparts.
Late on Wednesday evening, Senate negotiators -- four Democrats, three Republicans -- had a vote count problem. To move the payroll tax cut forward, four of them needed to sign on to the broad agreement. House Dem and GOP negotiators were all lined up. But none of the Senate Republican conferees would put pen to paper. When Democrat Ben Cardin (D-MD) wouldn't sign on either, based on his objection to cuts to federal worker pensions, the Senate found itself one vote shy.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Doc fix, John Boehner, Medicare, Mitch McConnell, Payroll Tax Cut, Unemployment
Payroll Tax Cut
Last-Minute Fights Slow Down Payroll Tax Cut Deal
Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)
Barring an unexpected collapse in negotiations, a broad deal to extend the temporary payroll tax cut and other expiring measures will be finalized Wednesday. But with time winding down, top Democrats and Republicans are still fighting over key details -- particularly how to pay for over $50 billion of the approximately $150 billion package.
One of the likely financing provisions would require federal workers to provide greater contributions to their own retirement packages.
"I'm very unhappy with the projected pay-fors which hit average working Americans, otherwise known as federal employees, pretty hard," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told TPM and one other reporter in the Capitol Wednesday. "I don't know the exact details and the exact details are being worked on. So from that standpoint I'm not happy."
Hoyer represents a Maryland district that's chockablock with federal workers, which underlies his concerns. Asked if he himself planned to vote for the measure, Hoyer proclaimed "I don't know."
Topics: Doc fix, John Boehner, John Larson, Medicare, Payroll Tax Cut, Steny Hoyer, Unemployment, Unemployment benefits, Xavier Becerra
Harry Reid
As Payroll Fight Wraps Up, Dems Prepare For Next Battle
House Democrats will support a GOP bill to extend the expiring payroll tax cut through the end of the year, when Republicans bring it to a vote later this week. That basically puts to rest any remaining doubts that the provision will expire at the end of the month.
Now the fight is on between the parties over whether and how to renew two other expiring provisions -- extended unemployment benefits, and Medicare physician reimbursement rates (the "doc fix") -- before March. And the balance of power in this battle is much less clear.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Chuck Schumer, Debbie Stabenow, Doc fix, Harry Reid, Medicare, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, Payroll Tax Cut, Steny Hoyer, Unemployment
Payroll Tax Cut
Dems Plot Payroll Tax Cut End Game
Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)
After a few hours of thought, Democrats have decided the GOP's blink on the payroll tax cut is an unvarnished good, not some devious trick.
Republicans have all but agreed to renew the payroll tax cut through the end of the year without paying for it -- a huge tactical swing for them. But they're still insisting that the other expiring measures -- extended unemployment insurance (UI), and Medicare physician reimbursements (the "doc fix") -- are somehow offset with cuts elsewhere.
Having taken the most politically important, and most costly item off the table, are Republicans in the driver's seat in negotiations over extending the other two items? Not necessarily.
A senior Senate Dem aide explains how Democrats might well proceed from here.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Doc fix, Medicare, Mitch McConnell, Payroll Tax Cut, Tax Cuts, Unemployment
Payroll Tax Cut
GOP Drops Demand For Offsetting Payroll Tax Cut
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
Facing emboldened Democratic negotiators and a quickly thinning legislative calendar, House Republican leaders have offered to extend the payroll tax holiday through the end of the year without paying for it. The development represents a dramatic reversal for GOP leaders, who nearly allowed the payroll tax cut to lapse in December in part because of their insistence that the package be financially offset.
"Because the president and Senate Democratic leaders have not allowed their conferees to support a responsible bipartisan agreement, today House Republicans will introduce a backup plan that would simply extend the payroll tax holiday for the remainder of the year while the conference negotiations continue regarding offsets, unemployment insurance, and the 'doc fix,'" said GOP leaders in an official statement Monday afternoon.
That's a huge concession to legislative and political realities, and a tacit admission that Republican leaders desparately want to avoid another no-win fight over renewing a tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the middle class.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Doc fix, Eric Cantor, John Boehner, Kevin McCarthy, Medicare, Payroll Tax Cut, Unemployment
Doc fix
GOP Looks Set To Block Dem Fix For Medicare Doctors
Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
House GOP leaders are set to shoot down a silver-bullet pay-for to fix Medicare physician payment rates, sources close to leadership tell TPM, even though the idea has strong support among Democrats and some key Republican lawmakers. The so-called "doc fix" is being negotiated as part of the payroll tax cut package and momentum to use war savings to eliminate the Medicare flaw has recently halted due to GOP divisions over the idea.
The idea of using unspent Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO) funds from troop withdrawals Iraq and Afghanistan has the support of top Democrats as well as influential Republicans like Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (AZ) and GOP Doctors Caucus chairman Rep. Phil Gingrey (GA). While President Obama and Dems want to tap into the $838 billion fund for infrastructure as well, GOP backers say it shouldn't be used for anything other than a doc fix.
But two former Republican staffers turned health industry lobbyists say House GOP leaders are now opposed to tapping into the money even for that.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Doc fix, Jon Kyl, Medicare
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