MINNEAPOLIS -- Just in time for the holidays, lawmakers in Washington decided to throw some coal in everyone's stocking.
The payroll tax cut that saved 160 million Americans cold hard cash every paycheck since late last year is up for renewal.
The Senate voted Saturday to give it two more months of life until a long term agreement could be made, but the House squashed that on Tuesday; its leadership saying it just delays doing the hard work that needs to be done now.
"Our members do not want to just punt and do a two-month short term fix where we have to come back and do this again," Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner said Tuesday.
President Obama seemed none too happy that the Republican controlled House said no to the deal the Senate signed off on, in effect, kicking the can back to the Senate when the Senate already declared it Holiday break.
"The clock is ticking. Time is running out and if the House Republicans refuse to vote for the Senate bill or even allow it to come up for a vote, taxes will go up in 11 days," President Obama said.
So what does that mean to you the American worker?
It means if you make $50,000 a year, your 2011 payroll tax was $2,100 a year.
If the cut isn't renewed next year you will pay $3,100 annually, a $1000 increase or about 20 dollars per paycheck.
Also wrapped in this legislation, now in gridlock, is unemployment benefits. The House passed on voting to extend benefits to two million unemployed Americans.
Medicare also faces a hit; doctors face a 27 percent cut in Medicare payments.
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