Reid: House GOP payroll-tax bill a ‘partisan joke’

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called Republicans more interested in playing politics than legislating, hours after the House GOP laid out a new path for continuing the payroll tax cut.

The Republican plan would combine an extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance reforms with more Republican priorities, such as pushing the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline and delaying Environmental Protection Agency regulations on industrial boilers.

“House Republicans’ bill is a partisan joke that has no chance of passing the Senate, but middle-class families facing a thousand-dollar tax hike on January 1st are not laughing,” Reid said in a statement. “Instead of playing political games, Congress should work to find common ground. In the days ahead, I intend to do exactly that.”

The majority leader’s statement came after dueling payroll tax proposals again failed to clear procedural hurdles in the Senate.

With those votes, the action on extending the payroll tax cut, a priority of President Obama’s and something House GOP leaders also believe needs to be done, shifts into next week.

Democrats had proposed a slimmed-down version of their payroll tax plan this week, but it again only received the support of about half of the chamber. Republicans offered a similar plan to the one they proposed last week, which again was supported by fewer than half of the GOP senators.

House GOP leaders are attempting to entice members skeptical of extending the payroll tax cut with the pipeline and boiler provisions.

Some House Republicans are concerned about the payroll tax cut’s impact on Social Security and believe lawmakers should concentrate on more permanent tax changes.

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