Payroll Tax

WASHINGTON - Congressional negotiators reached agreement last night on a compromise spending bill to avert a partial federal shutdown. They also worked toward a deal renewing the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits for another year but prepared a shorter version as a fallback in case talks fell short. Senate majority leader Harry M. Reid, Democrat of Nevada, said he was still optimistic that bipartisan talks on yearlong extensions of the payroll tax cut and unemployment coverage would succeed.

The Obama campaign called "BS" Thursday on an independent group's $25 million attack ad that accuses the president of breaking his promises. Stephanie Cutter, Obama's deputy campaign manager, used the abbreviation to describe an ad released Wednesday by the Karl Rove-led nonprofit Crossroads GPS. In a 3-minute Web video, Cutter rebuts the ad's claims, one by one. But she often avoids the specific facts presented by the ad and in one case misrepresents its argument. "First up, the attack ad says the president has not helped people who faced foreclosure.

President Barack Obama will be joined at the White House on Tuesday by taxpayers who stand to benefit from a payroll tax cut extension. Obama will discuss the importance of Congress' agreement to extend the Social Security payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance. He will also urge Congress to take additional steps to create jobs, grow the economy and help the middle class. Joining Obama will be Americans who have shared their stories on WhiteHouse.gov and Twitter about what an extra $40 in their paycheck means to them.

Many taxpayers who expect to receive a refund plan to save it, according to a new survey from John Hancock Financial Services. Forty-nine percent of survey respondents plan to place their refund in a savings account, while 25 percent plan to use it to pay down debt, the survey from Boston-based John Hancock found. One in five, or 20 percent, plan to spend their refund, and 18 percent plan to put the refund toward a retirement plan outside of work. However, 3 out of 10 taxpayers, or 30 percent of taxpayers, are still unaware that they are taking home more...

Gov. Deval Patrick says the stalemate in Congress over extending payroll tax cuts appears to be an "ego battle" more than anything else. During his monthly "Ask the Governor" show on WTKK-FM, Patrick on Thursday said House Republicans seem willing to do anything to embarrass President Barack Obama, even if that means hurting the American people. Patrick noted that Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, a Republican, shares his view that the House should back the Senate's plan for a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits.

Congressional leaders are gauging lawmakers' reactions to a tentative deal extending a 2 percentage-point payroll tax cut and added unemployment benefits for the rest of 2012. Republican and Democratic bargainers worked out the package late Tuesday. The roughly $150 billion measure also would prevent a steep cut in Medicare reimbursements to doctors. About a third of the measure's costs would be paid for, with savings that include cuts in Medicare payments to hospitals, increased employee contributions to federal pensions and government sales of parts of the broadcast airwaves.

President Barack Obama said Tuesday there are "hopeful signs" Congress will reach a deal to extend expiring payroll tax cuts for millions of Americans. But he urged the public to keep up the pressure on Congress until an agreement is finalized and a bill lands on his desk. "You're starting to hear voices talk about how we can go ahead and make this happen in a timely way on behalf of the American people," Obama said. "That is good news. " But Obama warned that nothing in Washington should be taken for granted "until my signature is actually on it. " The...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says congressional bargainers are preparing a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut and expiring jobless benefits as a fallback plan in case negotiations on a yearlong package don't succeed. Lawmakers also worked on legislation to avoid a government shutdown at midnight Friday. Those talks are still continuing and Reid said he still hoped they would succeed. But with lawmakers hoping to leave town soon for the holidays, negotiators are working on shorter version they would revisit when Congress returns next year.

Eleven lawmakers missed the 229-193 House vote that rejected Senate legislation to extend a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits for two months. Reps. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Ron Paul of Texas were campaigning Tuesday for the Republican presidential nomination. Democrat Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona is recovering from the brain injury she suffered when shot by a gunman. Republican Howard Coble of North Carolina is hospitalized with a respiratory illness.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House-Senate talks on renewing a payroll tax cut that delivers about $20 a week to the average worker yielded a tentative agreement today, with lawmakers hopeful of unveiling the pact tomorrow and sending the measure to President Barack Obama as early as this week. Under the outlines of the emerging agreement, a 2 percentage-point cut in the Social Security payroll tax would be extended through the end of the year, with the nearly $100 billion cost added to the deficit.

Economists say a combination of higher taxes and lower spending is the best way to reduce the federal budget deficit. A survey on economic policies conducted by the National Association for Business Economists released Monday also forecast that short-term interest rates would remain at current levels for at least another year. The economists say the Federal Reserve should not buy more bonds to support and stimulate the economy, as it has in the last few years, even though the policy has been effective.

Describing Massachusetts as "resilient, robust, and strong," Governor Mitt Romney used his final State of the State address last night to propose setting aside $200 million to help pay for a sweeping healthcare plan, saying the money should assuage legislators' fears about the cost of covering everybody. "Health insurance for all our citizens does not require new taxes," Romney said. "Some of you have your doubts about that. I know that the uncertainty could stall our progress or even end it. The speaker, Senate president, and I have agreed that we have a once-...

WASHINGTON — President Obama will tout his economic plans, with a focus on energy, at Nashua Community College in New Hampshire on Thursday afternoon, the White House announced this evening. It will be the president's second visit to the general election swing state in the last three months. Obama's remarks, scheduled for 1:40 p.m. in the college gymnasium, will be open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets will be distributed for free, one per person, beginning Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the college.

WASHINGTON - The recent payroll tax cut package passed by Congress - heralded as a bipartisan nod to working families - has Massachusetts hospitals reeling over a little-noted section that will cost them tens of millions of dollars. Tucked into the legislation are cuts to the rates paid to hospitals to care for the elderly and poor, as well as a provision slicing a new preventive care fund by about a third. The cuts amount to at least $62 million over 10 years in Massachusetts and possibly significantly more, and they come on top of other reductions that have administrators feeling...

President Obama will visit Nashua, N.H., Thursday to discuss the economy, the White House announced today. No further details were immediately released. For Obama, it will be the second visit to the general election swing state in the last three months. In November, he visited a Manchester high school to promote his plan to extend the payroll tax cut as part of an overall jobs package. He won New Hampshire in 2008 over Senator John McCain, but the state shifted sharply to the right in the 2010 midterm elections, both in the state house and in its congressional...

WASHINGTON — Members of a House-Senate committee assigned with writing a measure to extend a payroll tax reduction and provide added unemployment benefits reached a tentative agreement last night, with Republicans and Democrats claiming a degree of political victory in a fight with significant election-year implications. One day after House Republican leaders said they would offer a bill to extend the $100 billion payroll tax rollback for millions of working Americans without requiring spending cuts to pay for it, the congressional negotiators struck a broader deal that would also...