Camp: Conference committee likely to meet next week

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) signaled on Wednesday that a congressional members of conference committee dealing with the payroll tax cut would have their first meeting next week.

“We can’t meet until the Senate gets back,” Camp, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters after a House GOP conference meeting. “We’re working on meeting next week.”

The Senate is scheduled to reconvene for its new session on Monday, while House Republicans head for a policy retreat on Thursday.

President Obama also heads to the Capitol on Tuesday to deliver his State of the Union address.

The conference committee is tasked with hammering out a yearlong extension of the payroll tax cut, something lawmakers in both chambers and both parties have said they support. Because of that, lawmakers are hopeful they will be able to reach an agreement without too much trouble.

Members of the conference committee, 20 in all, will also look for a solution on federal unemployment benefits and the reimbursement rate for doctors under Medicare.

The committee will come together as House Republicans are still looking to regroup from December’s payroll tax debate. The GOP took some political hits for resisting the popular tax cuts, then insisting on a House-passed, yearlong version of the bill.

The House eventually consented to a two-month extension worked out in the Senate.

On Wednesday, Camp said staffers for conference committee members had already started laying the groundwork for the panel’s work.

“They exchanged information on the side-by-side analysis of the two positions,” Camp said. “I think it was very productive.”

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