Bill to avert payroll-tax hike meets resistance in Senate

WASHINGTON - Capitol Hill negotiators Thursday officially unveiled hard-fought compromise legislation to prevent 160 million workers from getting slapped with a payroll-tax increase, but it ran into turbulence in the Senate, where Republicans withheld support and several Democrats attacked it.

The measure is a top election-year priority for President Obama and generally won backing from his Democratic allies in Congress, including Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) and Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), both of whom served on the committee that struck the deal.

But it's getting only grudging support from House Republicans and even less from Obama's GOP rivals in the Senate, where party negotiators shunned the measure and its $89 billion impact on the budget deficit over the coming decade.

The legislation is expected to get votes in both the House and Senate on Friday, and Obama has promised to sign it.

In a statement, Obama said: "Leaders of both parties have done the right thing for our families and for our economy by reaching an agreement that will prevent a tax hike on 160 million working Americans. I urge Congress to pass this agreement so that the payroll-tax cut we put in place last year will not expire at the end of this month."

But support in the Senate, where Democrats control 53 votes, seemed soft. It will take 60 votes to advance the measure, and Democratic vote-counters braced for defections. They also worried that Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky wasn't rounding up votes.

In the House, the top Republican said the $143 billion measure would not do anything to help the economy.

"Let's be honest, this is an economic relief package, not a bill that's going to grow the economy and create jobs," House Speaker John A. Boehner (R., Ohio) said.

Meanwhile, Casey, who introduced a bill in December to extend the tax break, hailed the compromise as a "big-time job creator" that will "keep the economy improving" through putting money back into Americans' pockets.

He estimated that the average worker in Pennsylvania stands to receive an additional $494 as a result of the cut through the end of 2012.

"As frustrating as it can be, we still have to find a way to find common ground to stay focused on the larger objective - improving the economy," he said.