Van Hollen to vote against payroll tax deal

Maryland Democrats are lining up against the bipartisan payroll tax deal to protest the effects on federal employees.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), a member of the payroll tax conference committee, announced Friday that he supports most of the package but will vote 'no' because of the cuts in federal pension benefits, which would ultimately affect thousands of employees in suburban Maryland.

"Federal employees … are willing to do their fair share to help us reduce our deficit," Van Hollen, senior Democrat on the Budget Committee, said on the chamber floor just hours before the scheduled vote. "But stop singling them out and making them scapegoats. 

"They had nothing to do with the financial meltdown on Wall Street, they are not the drivers of our national debt, and I am sick and tired of hearing some members of Congress bad-mouthing and belittling federal employees." 

The remarks come a day after Van Hollen joined all Democratic members of the payroll tax conference committee to endorse the conference report. 

Echoing the message from other Maryland Democrats critical of the pension language, Van Hollen was quick to the praise the parts of the package the party favors, particularly the 10-month extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits. He even conceded that the bill would likely pass.

"That being said," Van Hollen added, "I’m going to vote no to send a message that enough is enough when it comes to using the federal work force as a piggy bank to fund our various national initiatives."

Fellow Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the Democratic whip, also intends to vote against the tax package, which is a major plank in President Obama's election-year jobs agenda. The position puts the two at odds with other Democratic leaders — including Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the minority leader, Sandy Levin (Mich.), Xavier Becerra (Calif.) and Henry Waxman (Calif.) — who all say they have reservations with certain provisions of the package but support it on the whole.

"I don't see a scenario where our members will vote against it," Pelosi said Thursday.

Despite the opposition from the high-powered Maryland Democrats, the House bill is expected to pass the lower chamber Friday morning with broad bipartisan support. 

More crucial, perhaps, is the position of the Maryland Democrats in the upper chamber — Sens. Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski — who have panned the bill over the federal pension cuts but haven't said how they'll vote on the floor.

The Senate vote is expected to be close, with most Republicans lining up against it.

Cardin, a member of the payroll tax conference committee, endorsed the conference report Thursday.

At issue is a provision of the payroll tax deal that cuts pension benefits for future federal employees to offset an extension of unemployment insurance. The language is scaled back from the original GOP proposal, which would have also affected current federal employees, but the compromise wasn't enough to bring Van Hollen and Hoyer on board.

A last minute push to replace the pension cut with a cut in some federal pay failed late Wednesday night. 

Van Hollen warned that the cut might target federal workers specifically, but it will affect everyone in the country. Echoing Hoyer, he noted that federal workers are responsible for treating veterans, researching new medical technologies and monitoring terrorists. 

"It will make it much more difficult for us to attract the federal employees we need to do our national work," he said. "They are an easy political target … but it is irresponsible to denigrate their good work." 

— This story was updated at 11:19 a.m.