House Republican leaders signaled on Monday that they are ready to give up on their demand that Congress approve spending cuts to offset the cost of extending a payroll tax cut through the end of the year, as GOP leaders blamed Democrats for refusing to agree to any bid to pay for the plan.
It wasn't immediately clear whether rank-and-file Republicans would back the plan, but it comes after weeks of talks that produced no deal on how to pay for the payroll tax cut extension.
Here is a statement issued by Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA).
"We support the work of our conference negotiators and continue to support a responsible resolution that extends current payroll tax relief, reforms and extends unemployment insurance, and includes a Medicare 'doc fix.' Republicans have attempted to reach an agreement and negotiated in good faith for months, and we will continue to do so. Unfortunately, to date, Democrats have refused virtually every spending cut proposed – insisting instead on job-threatening tax hikes on small business job creators – and with respect to the need for an extension of the payroll tax cut, time is running short.
"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.' If Democrats continue to refuse to negotiate in good faith, Republicans may schedule this measure for House consideration later this week pending a conversation with our members. Democrats' refusal to agree to any spending cuts in the conference committee has made it necessary for us to prepare this fallback option to protect small business job creators and ensure taxes don't go up on middle class workers.
"This is not our first choice. Our goal is to reach a responsible agreement in conference. But in the face of the Democrats' stonewalling and obstructionism, we are prepared to act to protect small businesses and our economy from the consequences of Washington Democrats' political games."
House Republican leaders signaled on Monday that they are ready to give up on their demand that Congress approve spending cuts to offset the cost of extending a payroll tax cut through the end of the year, as GOP leaders blamed Democrats for refusing to agree to any bid to ...
