Boehner: House to snub Senate tax holiday

The GOP-controlled House will reject a Senate bill to extend the U.S. payroll-tax holiday for two months when it votes Tuesday, House Speaker John Boehner said. The vote, originally scheduled for Monday evening, "will take place tomorrow in the light of day," said Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., after a 2-hour huddle of House Republicans in a Capitol meeting room. McCarthy, the No. 3 House Republican, said GOP lawmakers did not want to appear to be voting "in the dead of night" -- a practice they accused Democrats of engaging in when they controlled the lower chamber. Boehner, R-Ohio -- overseeing a 242-member caucus that includes dozens of freshmen elected on promises to remake Washington -- said he was confident he had the votes to reject the Senate version of the bill. He denied he ever signed off on the Senate deal and said he never suggested to fellow House Republicans in a Saturday phone call the Senate bill was a "good deal" and a GOP "victory" that they should pass, as some Republicans indicated. Boehner said that after defeating the bill Tuesday, the House would formally request new negotiations with the Senate over how to pay for a $120 billion, full-year extension of the tax cut."No more kicking the can down the road," he said. President Barack Obama has said extending the one-year payroll tax holiday, which expires Dec. 31, will let workers keep and spend more of their paychecks, boosting the still-sputtering U.S. economy. If the tax holiday is not extended, payroll taxes will jump to 6.2 percent from 4.2 percent Jan. 1, costing the average family $1,000 next year.The Senate passed-bill includes provisions to extend jobless benefits for millions of unemployed Americans and avoid cuts in doctors' Medicare reimbursement rates. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he had no thought about restarting talks with the House. A two-month deal would give the parties enough time to work out a deal for the remaining 10 months, he said. "I will not reopen negotiations until the House follows through and passes this agreement that was negotiated by Republican leaders, and supported by 90 percent of the Senate," Reid said in a statement.The Senate adopted the two-month bill Saturday, 89-10. The Senate then adjourned for the year and most senators left Washington, although the chamber will hold brief "pro forma" sessions every few days for the next two weeks.The senators are not due back until Jan. 23. Despite this, Boehner said repeatedly Monday he believed a deal for a full-year extension could still be struck. "I don't believe the differences are that significant that we can't do this for a whole year," he said. "Why punt this until the end of February when we can just do this now and get it over with?"