Senate to return to tax extenders after nominations

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is expected to return his attention to the so-called tax extenders bill after his chamber dispenses with nominations, his spokesperson told The Hill on Monday. 

The staffer's comment puts to rest several rumors floating around K Street that back-to-back defeats on extenders might have prompted the majority leader into tabling the debate on the bill and moving to legislation providing tax relief and loan opportunities to small businesses. 

The House has already passed a small-business jobs bill twice. Leaders in the chamber have repeatedly called on the Senate to move a small-business package that would allow companies to take advantage of certain tax breaks and have better access to credit. 

On extenders, Reid on Friday said his chamber had been toiling with the bill for approximately seven weeks with very little progress to show for it. 

That same day, Senate Democrats celebrated a partial victory on extenders when they agreed to pull from the bill a fully funded, six-month extension of the so-called "doc fix," a term that describes a delay in Medicare payment cuts to physicians. The measure was brought to the floor under unanimous consent and was not objected to by a single Republican. 

Senate members from both parties hailed passage of the doc fix as a major achievement for their chamber.  

House Democrats, however, do not seem to share their enthusiasm. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) over the weekend said there was no reason to vote on a stand-alone doc fix when it could endanger the passage of other extenders provisions that could help create jobs.

"I see no reason to pass this inadequate bill until we see jobs legislation coming out of the Senate," she said. "House Democrats are saying to Republicans in the Senate: Show us the jobs."  

— Mike Lillis contributed to this story.