House G.O.P. Leaders Agree to Extension of Payroll Tax Cut

December 22, 2011
House G.O.P. Leaders Agree to Extension of Payroll Tax Cut
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER and JACKIE CALMES

WASHINGTON — Bowing under intense pressure from members of their own party to end the politically damaging impasse over a payroll tax holiday, House Republican leaders agreed Thursday to accept a temporary extension of the tax cut, beating a hasty retreat from a showdown that Republicans increasingly saw as a threat to their election opportunities next year.

Under a deal reached between House and Senate leaders — which Speaker John A. Boehner was presenting to the rank and file in an evening conference call — House members would accept the two-month extension of a payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits approved by the Senate last Saturday, while the Senate would appoint members of a House-Senate conference committee to negotiate legislation to extend both benefits through 2012.

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