الرئيسية
WASHINGTON (AP)
— House Republicans unveiled a bill Friday renewing the Social Security
payroll tax cut and extending but trimming unemployment benefits but
barreled toward a showdown with President Barack Obama by including
language jumpstarting work on a controversial oil pipeline.
With
Democrats claiming the measure is too stingy toward jobless and
lower-income people, next week's House vote looms as the opening scuffle
in a year-end battle that will let each party spotlight its economic
priorities ahead of November's presidential and congressional elections.
The
two parties generally agree on the bill's pillars: preventing the Jan. 1
expiration of payroll tax cuts and of extra coverage for the long-term
unemployed, and avoiding a mandated cut in payments the government sends
doctors for treating Medicare patients.
But the GOP tax cut and
jobless benefits are less generous than Democrats want. And Republicans
ignore the White House's preference to finance the bill by boosting
taxes on millionaires, instead paying their bill's price tag — more than
$180 billion — by extracting money from federal workers, boosting
federal fees and requiring higher-earning seniors to pay more for
Medicare.
"This package does not include everything Republicans
would like, nor does it have all that Democrats have called for," said
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "But it is a win for the American
people and worthy of the president's signature."
White House
spokesman Jay Carney derided the GOP package, saying, "Their plan seeks
to put the burden on working families while giving a free pass to the
wealthiest and big corporations by protecting their loopholes and
subsidies."
Some GOP proposals — for example, charging some
seniors more for Medicare, freezing civil servants' pay and raising some
federal fees — are similar to past proposals by Obama.
While the
measure's chief ingredients had been clear for days, the 369-page
legislation revealed new details. These included letting states
administer drug tests to some unemployment benefit applicants; barring
welfare recipients from using their benefits at strip clubs, liquor
stores and casinos; and cracking down on illegal immigrants collecting
federal checks for the children's tax credit by requiring them and
others to first produce Social Security numbers.
The GOP plan also
staves off a threatened Medicare cut that would slash fees paid to
doctors by 27 percent, which no one wants since it would destabilize
health care for 47 million seniors and disabled people. The price would
be paid by higher-earning seniors, who would pay higher monthly premiums
for Medicare outpatient services and prescriptions starting in 2017.
Currently
only about 7 percent of Medicare recipients pay higher premiums because
of their income. Under the proposal, 25 percent would eventually pay
higher monthly charges.
That would affect not only the wealthy but
many retirees who consider themselves solidly middle class. Advocates
for the elderly were quick to object, but Republicans said their idea is
a virtual clone of an earlier plan by Obama.
Upper-income seniors
have long paid higher Medicare premiums. But the GOP bill would
increase those premiums for single retirees earning more than $80,000,
rather than the current $85,000. The threshold for married couples would
be $160,000 instead of the current $170,000.
In addition, those
thresholds would stop growing to reflect inflation until 1 in 4 Medicare
beneficiaries were paying the higher premiums.
Without action,
the payroll tax paid by 160 million workers would return to its normal
6.2 percent on Jan. 1, up from 4.2 percent this year. That reduction,
enacted in an effort to spur job creation, saved $1,000 this year for a
family earning $50,000.
The GOP bill would keep the payroll tax at
4.2 percent through 2012. Obama proposed just a 3.1 percent levy next
year and wanted to give similar tax breaks to employers.
The
Republican bill would also gradually reduce the maximum 99 weeks of
unemployment coverage to 59 weeks by mid-2012, coverage many Democrats
consider too short with the current weak economy. Without a renewal,
about 2 million jobless people would lose benefits by February.
The
marquee dispute, though, appears to be over GOP language that would
give the administration two months to issue a permit allowing work on
the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, to be built from Canada to Texas.
That
pipeline has been fought by environmental groups but favored by labor
and business. Obama had delayed a decision on the project until after
the November elections.
Obama this week said he would reject the
overall bill if it included pipeline language. That threat has
galvanized conservative support for the overall measure, with
Republicans hoping to use Obama's opposition to portray him as favoring
environmentalists over jobs.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid,
D-Nev., stood by Obama Friday, saying, "If the House sends us their bill
with Keystone on it, they are just wasting valuable time because it
will not pass the Senate."
Setting the stage for another clash
over the environment, the Republican bill would also head off a proposed
Environmental Protection Agency rule curbing pollution from industrial
incinerators and boilers.
The bill would also:
—Limit where
welfare recipients could spend their benefits by preventing ATMs at
strip clubs and other establishments from reading the electronic cards
through which most people on welfare receive their monthly payments.
—Cut
about $21 billion from Obama's health care overhaul by tightening rules
for tax credits that will help pay premiums for the uninsured and by
squeezing a fund for preventive care — a strategy Democrats are certain
to resist.
—Freeze federal workers' pay in 2013, extending a
freeze already planned through 2012, and increase their contributions to
their own pensions.
—Require people receiving unemployment
benefits to try getting a high school diploma or an equivalent and join
programs aimed at helping them get new jobs.
—Raise fees the
government-run Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge to guarantee mortgages
they buy from lenders, and sell portions of the broadcast spectrum.
—Symbolically bar millionaires from collecting food stamps and unemployment benefits, raising a tiny $20 million.
—Let businesses deduct the full cost of their equipment investments in as little as one year.
— House Republicans unveiled a bill Friday renewing the Social Security
payroll tax cut and extending but trimming unemployment benefits but
barreled toward a showdown with President Barack Obama by including
language jumpstarting work on a controversial oil pipeline.
With
Democrats claiming the measure is too stingy toward jobless and
lower-income people, next week's House vote looms as the opening scuffle
in a year-end battle that will let each party spotlight its economic
priorities ahead of November's presidential and congressional elections.
The
two parties generally agree on the bill's pillars: preventing the Jan. 1
expiration of payroll tax cuts and of extra coverage for the long-term
unemployed, and avoiding a mandated cut in payments the government sends
doctors for treating Medicare patients.
But the GOP tax cut and
jobless benefits are less generous than Democrats want. And Republicans
ignore the White House's preference to finance the bill by boosting
taxes on millionaires, instead paying their bill's price tag — more than
$180 billion — by extracting money from federal workers, boosting
federal fees and requiring higher-earning seniors to pay more for
Medicare.
"This package does not include everything Republicans
would like, nor does it have all that Democrats have called for," said
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "But it is a win for the American
people and worthy of the president's signature."
White House
spokesman Jay Carney derided the GOP package, saying, "Their plan seeks
to put the burden on working families while giving a free pass to the
wealthiest and big corporations by protecting their loopholes and
subsidies."
Some GOP proposals — for example, charging some
seniors more for Medicare, freezing civil servants' pay and raising some
federal fees — are similar to past proposals by Obama.
While the
measure's chief ingredients had been clear for days, the 369-page
legislation revealed new details. These included letting states
administer drug tests to some unemployment benefit applicants; barring
welfare recipients from using their benefits at strip clubs, liquor
stores and casinos; and cracking down on illegal immigrants collecting
federal checks for the children's tax credit by requiring them and
others to first produce Social Security numbers.
The GOP plan also
staves off a threatened Medicare cut that would slash fees paid to
doctors by 27 percent, which no one wants since it would destabilize
health care for 47 million seniors and disabled people. The price would
be paid by higher-earning seniors, who would pay higher monthly premiums
for Medicare outpatient services and prescriptions starting in 2017.
Currently
only about 7 percent of Medicare recipients pay higher premiums because
of their income. Under the proposal, 25 percent would eventually pay
higher monthly charges.
That would affect not only the wealthy but
many retirees who consider themselves solidly middle class. Advocates
for the elderly were quick to object, but Republicans said their idea is
a virtual clone of an earlier plan by Obama.
Upper-income seniors
have long paid higher Medicare premiums. But the GOP bill would
increase those premiums for single retirees earning more than $80,000,
rather than the current $85,000. The threshold for married couples would
be $160,000 instead of the current $170,000.
In addition, those
thresholds would stop growing to reflect inflation until 1 in 4 Medicare
beneficiaries were paying the higher premiums.
Without action,
the payroll tax paid by 160 million workers would return to its normal
6.2 percent on Jan. 1, up from 4.2 percent this year. That reduction,
enacted in an effort to spur job creation, saved $1,000 this year for a
family earning $50,000.
The GOP bill would keep the payroll tax at
4.2 percent through 2012. Obama proposed just a 3.1 percent levy next
year and wanted to give similar tax breaks to employers.
The
Republican bill would also gradually reduce the maximum 99 weeks of
unemployment coverage to 59 weeks by mid-2012, coverage many Democrats
consider too short with the current weak economy. Without a renewal,
about 2 million jobless people would lose benefits by February.
The
marquee dispute, though, appears to be over GOP language that would
give the administration two months to issue a permit allowing work on
the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, to be built from Canada to Texas.
That
pipeline has been fought by environmental groups but favored by labor
and business. Obama had delayed a decision on the project until after
the November elections.
Obama this week said he would reject the
overall bill if it included pipeline language. That threat has
galvanized conservative support for the overall measure, with
Republicans hoping to use Obama's opposition to portray him as favoring
environmentalists over jobs.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid,
D-Nev., stood by Obama Friday, saying, "If the House sends us their bill
with Keystone on it, they are just wasting valuable time because it
will not pass the Senate."
Setting the stage for another clash
over the environment, the Republican bill would also head off a proposed
Environmental Protection Agency rule curbing pollution from industrial
incinerators and boilers.
The bill would also:
—Limit where
welfare recipients could spend their benefits by preventing ATMs at
strip clubs and other establishments from reading the electronic cards
through which most people on welfare receive their monthly payments.
—Cut
about $21 billion from Obama's health care overhaul by tightening rules
for tax credits that will help pay premiums for the uninsured and by
squeezing a fund for preventive care — a strategy Democrats are certain
to resist.
—Freeze federal workers' pay in 2013, extending a
freeze already planned through 2012, and increase their contributions to
their own pensions.
—Require people receiving unemployment
benefits to try getting a high school diploma or an equivalent and join
programs aimed at helping them get new jobs.
—Raise fees the
government-run Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge to guarantee mortgages
they buy from lenders, and sell portions of the broadcast spectrum.
—Symbolically bar millionaires from collecting food stamps and unemployment benefits, raising a tiny $20 million.
—Let businesses deduct the full cost of their equipment investments in as little as one year.