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House approves rule setting up payroll tax break votes, 231-187
The House has approved a rule setting up three hours of debate and votes on three measures, including a controversial motion to disagree with the Senate's two-month payroll tax extension and seek a conference with the Senate.
The rule was approved in a 231-187 vote. All but one Republican, Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), voted for the rule, and every Democrat voted against it.
The vote came after more bitter partisan debate over the way House Republicans have set up the votes. Democrats on Monday night argued that Republicans are not giving the House a chance to approve the Senate bill directly. Instead, the first motion covered by the rule is on disagreeing with the Senate bill, and a vote against this motion does not automatically send the bill to the Senate.
"The Republicans in the Senate refused to allow a vote on the House Republican bill because they knew it would fail," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on the floor. "Republicans in the House refuse to bring up the Senate bill here because they're afraid it will pass."
Pelosi and other Democrats also charged that Republicans asked the Senate to reach a deal they could approve, and are now pulling it back.
"I thought the Speaker said that this was a victory after it passed in the Senate," Pelosi added. "He was the one who instructed [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid [D-Nev.], insisted that Sen. Reid have a discussion with [Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell [R-Ky.]. Was that just a farce, too?"
House Rules Committee ranking member Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) blamed hard-right Republicans for forcing House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to change his mind on the Senate deal.
"On Sunday, once the Tea Party Republicans in the caucus rebelled, Speaker Boehner reversed course and is now disowning the deal he supported 24 hours earlier," she said.
Republicans rejected this charge indirectly during morning debate, and said the House is not bound by anything the Senate passes. While Reid worked out the two-month extension with McConnell, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) had harsh words for Reid on the floor.
"Mr. Reid has said the House of Representatives must pass their bill," she said. "Well, nobody made Mr. Reid king, and I don't think that we have to do what Mr. Reid says.
"He has a very high opinion of himself," she continued. "I think we do what the Constitution tells us to do. When there's a difference of opinion, then we go to conference."
House Republicans generally oppose the Senate's two-month plan because, they say, it would not provide enough certainty for working Americans. They also cited reports that a two-month extension of the 2 percent payroll tax holiday would confuse efforts by employers to square away their payroll taxes for the year.
"The House is willing to work; the question is, where is the Senate?" Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) asked. "Do you want to pass a bill for messaging purposes, or do you want to pass a bill that works?"
The GOP also said calling for a conference with the Senate is warranted, as President Obama himself and other Democrats have routinely called for a yearlong extension.
"One of the pillars of the president's jobs bill was the extension of the payroll tax for one year," Rep. Jeff Landry (R-La.) said. "Republicans agreed with him and sent over to the Senate a bill which extends that payroll tax holiday for one year, and yet the Senate can only give us a sixth of that."
During debate, Slaughter repeated a Democratic threat that President Obama might not sign the omnibus spending bill unless the House approves the Senate-passed payroll tax bill.
"In addition, the president has not signed the omnibus bill; I think he was going to wait for this one, which means that come Friday, the government could shut down," she said. "Once again, this brinksmanship of hanging by our thumbs."
Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said that threat means Democrats, not Republicans, are "playing politics" with the issue. Regardless, the White House is expected to approve the omnibus spending bill for 2012 this week, regardless of how Congress handles the tax bill.
Aside from the vote on the motion to disagree with the Senate bill and request a conference, the rule also lets the House consider a Democratic motion to instruct House conferees, should they meet, and a GOP resolution expressing the sense of the House that the House-passed bill calling for a yearlong extension should be approved.
If the House can pass the motion to conference with the Senate later today, it raises the immediate question of whether the Senate will return to work this week or next, or whether the Senate will not return in a bid to force the House to approve the Senate-passed bill. Democrats have said the Senate would not return.
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