Congressional Roundup
Gary G. Miller, Congressman, California’s 42nd Congressional District

December 22, 2011

This Week in Congress:

Senate Amendment to H.R. 3660: Last week, the House passed H.R. 3660 to extend for one year the current payroll tax rates, which are scheduled to rise January 1, 2012. The House-passed measure also extends the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program to provide assistance to those who truly need it, while instituting important reforms to reduce costs and focus the program on getting people back to work. In addition, it delays for two years a scheduled 27 percent reduction in reimbursement payments to Medicare physicians, giving Congress and the Administration more than ample time to fix a permanent solution to the broken Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate formula. To ensure that the extensions do not increase the federal deficit or require more borrowing from the Social Security trust fund, the bill passed by the House freezes pay for Members of Congress and federal workers, reforms the UI program, reduces subsidies, and eliminates waste, fraud, and abuse in several Washington programs. The measure also provides new incentives for job creation by extending 100 percent expensing, removing burdensome Environmental Protection Agency regulations, and requires action on the bipartisan Keystone XL energy project.

This past weekend, the U.S. Senate amended H.R. 3630 to provide for a temporary extension of current payroll tax rates and unemployment insurance. Specifically, the Senate amendment extends these programs through February 29, 2012. It also includes a two-month delay of the scheduled reduction in Medicare reimbursements to physicians. These short-term measures will do little to give American workers and job creators the certainty they need in this economic environment.

That is why on Tuesday, the House approved, by a vote of 229-193, a motion that would affirm that the House disagrees to the Senate amendments to H.R. 3630, the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act, and formally requests a conference with the Senate to work out the differences between the two chambers and prevent a tax increase on millions of Americans. Once adopted, the House’s message and the underlying legislation would be transmitted back to the Senate. A formal conference cannot commence until the Senate appoints conferees.

Instructing Conferees: Also on Tuesday, the House approved, by a vote of 226-185, House Resolution 501, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding any final measure to extend the payroll tax holiday, extend federally funded unemployment insurance benefits, or prevent decreases in reimbursement for physicians who provide care to Medicare beneficiaries. Specifically, the resolution would express the sense of the House that any final measure should:

• Extend the payroll tax holiday through December 31, 2012;
• Extend and reform unemployment insurance benefits to help those who truly need it, while reducing costs and getting people back to work;
• Eliminate for two years the 27 percent cut in reimbursement for physicians who provide care to Medicare beneficiaries;
• Reduce spending from areas throughout the federal government in order to protect the Social Security Trust Fund;
• Provide immediate job creation through
• Final approval of the Keystone XL pipeline;
• Expensing for capital assets placed in service in 2012; and
• Redrafting of EPA’s onerous regulation of boilers.

Talking Points on the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act

• During the worst economy since the Great Depression, the House passed a bipartisan jobs bill last week that did not raise taxes on small businesses and created a better environment for job growth by speeding up the approval process for the Keystone XL project and rolling back job destroying regulations.
• Today, the debate is over whether or not Congress will provide workers and small businesses twelve months of tax certainty, or two months of more uncertainty.
• In the almost three years since the President was elected, unemployment has been at, near, or above nine percent.
• In order to help Americans who are struggling through the worst jobs climate since the Great Depression, almost every single Member of Congress has declared that we need to extend the payroll tax holiday for a full year, without increasing the deficit.
• The most serious threat to job creation in the U.S. remains the overwhelming uncertainty hanging over the heads of job creators who simply cannot plan in 60-day intervals.
• Extending the tax holiday for only two months would cripple businesses with more of the same uncertainty they face now and American workers would be forced to live on uncertain incomes for an unknown length of time.
• The House already voted to extend the payroll tax holiday for a full year and extends and reforms the unemployment insurance system, but the Democrat Senate and President Obama oppose this bipartisan bill.
• Small businesses and job creators across the country have spoken loud and clear that a two month extension of the payroll tax holiday is unworkable.
• House Republicans are ready to work as long as it takes. They stand ready to find common ground to solve this crisis and when a conference report is complete, the House will return to vote on a final product.
• The Senate must not shun their responsibility to the American people.
• The time to debate for a solution for the American people is now. The time to create certainty and create jobs is now.