CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Feb. 3, 2012 – 9:59 p.m.
Payroll Tax Conferees Emphasize Fresh Start
By Sam Goldfarb, CQ Staff
After months of bitter, partisan fights over fiscal policy, lawmakers have been betting that a more civilized method might help them extend through 2012 a payroll tax cut, long-term jobless benefits and doctor reimbursement rates before current policies expire at the end of this month.
This fresh approach may not prove to be enough to avoid another ticking-clock crisis, however. Time is already short, and the two parties have yet to resolve both major and minor disagreements.
One atypical element of the current endeavor involves lawmakers trying to overcome their differences on the issues through a formal House-Senate conference committee on the full-year extenders bill (
Over the past two weeks, the conference committee has held three public meetings, with three more planned over the next few days, beginning Tuesday. By contrast, two recent conference committees dealing with fiscal 2012 appropriations and aviation policy both convened once in public, and then retreated behind closed doors.
By historical accident, the conference is being led by a Republican, House Ways and Means Chairman
Most elements of that bill fall under the jurisdiction of the tax-writing committees in the House and the Senate. And because the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee was chairman of the last conference between the two panels several years ago, it is Camp who is dictating the proceedings this time around. Senate Finance Chairman
True to his title, Camp has had the most to say about when the payroll tax conference meets and what it talks about. And Camp has set the tone for the meetings. Judicious by nature, he has been careful to give equal speaking time to Republicans and Democrats and only occasionally interjects his own opinions.
With the backing of House Speaker
Cooperation But Little Progress
The result has alternatively pleased and frustrated the other conferees. Providing cause for optimism, the panel has been able to establish areas of consensus, and done so with minimal political posturing. Republicans and Democrats agree that the Social Security payroll tax for employees should be preserved at its current reduced rate of 4.2 percent through the end of the year. They also agree that long-term jobless benefits should be continued in some form and that the existing “doc fix” should be extended to prevent a pay cut for physicians who treat Medicare patients.
By the end of last week, the payroll tax conference had reached a tentative agreement on some “second tier” issues related to an extension of unemployment benefits. But the panel had not determined how many weeks of benefits should be available to jobless workers. Nor had it decided whether those receiving unemployment checks should be subject to drug testing and education requirements, as Republicans have advocated.
Even when conferees have disagreed, they have generally been respectful of opposing views. Rep.
“Exchanging ideas helps educate our colleagues when they have different points of view, so they understand how we feel and we understand how they feel,” Waxman said.
Payroll Tax Conferees Emphasize Fresh Start
Even so, some Democrats have expressed concern about the slow pace of negotiations, noting that the panel has debated relatively minor issues at length without addressing how to pay for the legislation. Deep into the panel’s third meeting last week, Rep.
Ultimately, “policy will very much be related to pay-fors,” Levin said, and separating the two might end up being “artificial.”
Other Democrats echoed Levin. If Republicans insist on not adding to the deficit, they said, lawmakers will be able to extend the payroll tax cut and other policies through December only if they can agree on offsets. It was, of course, the inability to reach such a consensus that led Congress to pass a two-month extension bill (PL 111-78) in December.
Leadership Sniping
One Democrat who has expressed particular frustration with the conference negotiations is Senate Majority Leader
“We need to get a payroll tax bill done,” Reid said on Feb. 3. “I have the greatest confidence in my conferees, but I am not going to stand by while the stalling takes place on the Republican side.”
Reid said his office was already working on legislation to extend the payroll tax cut beyond February, but he would not reveal details. In a sign that negotiations might be entering a more fractious stage, Boehner quickly responded that it was up to Senate Democrats to put together a plan that could win bipartisan support.
One question hanging over conferees and party leaders alike is whether Congress will eventually fall back on a further short-term extension of the tax cut, having already settled for a stopgap measure once. That is not yet a question that lawmakers are eager to address.
“I hope we don’t get to that point,” said Rep.