Payroll tax extension: Obama needs to lead, Reid needs to make it one year long

Please, no Blue Christmas

There's a lot of finger-pointing going on in regards to the arguing over the payroll tax extension.

But there is only one president, and Speaker of the House John Boehner says it's time for him to lead.

The American people expect Congress to pass a one-year extension, and we should not wait to finish this work. We should complete it immediately.

That's why the House has voted to begin a formal conference committee to resolve the differences between the House and Senate bills. There's nothing unusual about this. This is the system our Founders gave us. It's as old as our nation, as clear as our Constitution. Republicans have appointed eight lawmakers to this conference committee, and they are in Washington now, ready to meet.

Despite all this, Senate Democrats are refusing to return from vacation and negotiate with the House. We hope the president, who has repeatedly said he won't go on vacation until this matter is resolved, will urge Senate Democrats to change their minds. He should call on them to appoint negotiators so we can extend payroll tax relief for a full year and help create jobs. Otherwise, Senate Democrats' refusal to negotiate means Americans' taxes going up on Jan. 1. It should not come to that, and I'm confident it won't.

When hardworking taxpayers have work to finish, they don't knock off early. They stay and get the job done. Let's follow their example and come together to do the right thing for our economy and our country.

President Obama keeps railing about Congress, but he keeps forgetting that his party controls the Senate. From National Review Online:

Today the House voted to reject a Senate plan for temporarily extending the payroll-tax cut and subsequently moved to recess, and they deserve credit for doing so.

This move does not eliminate the possibility of extending the tax cut, which expires at the end of December: The House previously passed a bill extending the cut for a full year, and that bill is good policy. It doesn’t increase the deficit. It forces a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. And it’s President Obama’s major year-end priority. So why is the Democratic Senate blocking the bill's path between Capitol Hill and the White House signing desk, and pushing the bill the House rejected instead?

Because Harry Reid doesn't like how the House version is paid for. Having failed — not once, but multiple times — to offset the payroll-rate cut with a new surtax on job creators, Senate Democrats were forced to huddle with Republicans to find common ground. What they came up with were enough offsets to fund a 60-day extension, mostly via increased fees on Fannie and Freddie. (This makes a certain amount of sense: Republicans abhor the government-sponsored enterprises, Democrats adore fees.)

The Senate plan, then, was to pass the temporary extension, send it back to the House, and enjoy a lengthy Christmas holiday. The New Year, they seem to believe, will bring with it fresh opportunities to kick the can down the road. But the 60-day extension is both irresponsible and unworkable, and House Republicans were right to hold the line against it, even if it keeps Congress in Washington through these holy nights.

Let's get moving, folks. We don't want a Blue Christmas. As for Obama, if he really believes he is our fourth-greatest president, it's time for him to prove it.

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