With the clock ticking, Congress deadlocked this week over extending a payroll tax cut affecting 160 million Americans. House Republicans unexpectedly rejected a bipartisan Senate compromise that would have extended the tax cut for two months beyond Dec. 31 to buy time for talks on a longer-term agreement. House Speaker John Boehner rejected that short-term extension as an unacceptable stopgap and insisted that the Senate return to Washington from the holiday recess for more negotiations. President Obama responded by calling the Senate bill the “only viable way” to prevent a Jan. 1 tax hike. Unless Congress acts before New Year’s Day, payroll taxes will rise by 2 percent, doctors will see a 27 percent cut in their Medicare reimbursements, and 2 million people will lose unemployment benefits.
This is not the GOP’s finest moment, said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial. Party leaders “thoroughly botched the politics” of this debate, achieving the “small miracle” of letting Obama position himself as the defender of tax cuts in an election year. House Republicans should “cut their losses and find a way to extend the payroll holiday quickly.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It’s long been clear that Congress isn’t concerned with governing anymore, said The New York Times, only with “assigning blame or avoiding it.” We’ve had a long year of “dangerous standoffs, led by extremist House members,” but this “truly ugly legislative wreck” will have real economic consequences for millions of Americans. The current partisan gridlock needs to end. “There are too many paychecks at stake.”