Payroll Tax Politics Pose Risk for Congressional Republicans
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A rare showdown between House and Senate Republicans over a temporary extension of the payroll tax cut poses a political threat to the party’s members on both sides of the Capitol heading into the 2012 elections.
It feeds into President Barack Obama’s campaign narrative that House Republicans’ obstructionism has resulted in a do-nothing Congress at a time when middle-class Americans need help in a struggling economy. At the same time, it fuels Tea Party opposition to Senate Republicans who teamed with Democrats to pass a two-month extension instead of a longer-term fix.