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Congress Sends Payroll Tax Cut Bill to Obama

Congress sends bill to congress that extends a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits.
Washington Insiders - Americans are split over whether presidential candidates should have extensive experience working on or with Capitol Hill. According to a Pew Research Center poll published Feb. 6, 26 percent of Americans say they would be more likely to support a candidate with extensive Washington, D.C., experience, while 25 percent said they’d be less likely.(Photo: Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)

Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images

Washington Insiders - Americans are split over whether presidential candidates should have extensive experience working on or with Capitol Hill. According to a Pew Research Center poll published Feb. 6, 26 percent of Americans say they would be more likely to support a candidate with extensive Washington, D.C., experience, while 25 percent said they’d be less likely.(Photo: Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)
By Associated Press
February 17, 2012 / 12:45 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has passed legislation renewing a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers and jobless benefits for millions more, backing the main items on President Barack Obama's jobs agenda in a rare burst of Washington bipartisanship.
The Senate approved the $143 billion measure by a bipartisan 60-36 vote. That tally came minutes after the House approved it by a sweeping 293-132 vote.

Obama is expected to sign it into law shortly after returning from a West Coast fundraising swing.

Under Friday's measure, workers would continue to receive a two percentage point increase in their paychecks and people out of work for more than six months would keep jobless benefits averaging about $300 a week. It would also head off a steep cut in reimbursements for physicians who treat Medicare patients.

 

BET Politics - Your source for the latest news, photos and videos illuminating key issues and personalities in African-American political life, plus commentary from some of our liveliest voices.

(Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

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