Tension is High as Congress Moves into Holiday Mode Without Resolving Differences

The Capitol is nearly empty today. Republicans and Democrats continue to fight in the media over legislation that would extend the payroll tax holiday, extend emergency unemployment and delay cuts in Medicare payments to doctors also known as the “Doc fix”.   The House has passed a one-year extension of these three policies. The Senate has passed a two-month extension.  The Senate has adjourned for the year and the House is demanding a House-Senate Conference to resolve differences between the House and Senate approaches.  Failure to resolve the difference before January 1 will result in cuts in payments to doctors serving Medicare patients, an abrupt end to emergency (99 week) unemployment benefits and of course the full social security withholding (6.2%) beginning the first pay period in 2012. Both sides appear dug in.   The end of year drama perpetuates the theory of a do nothing Congress.  There is still time for the House to pass the Senate two-month extension and there may even be time to do a House-Senate Conference.  The failure of Congress to resolve their differences is a sign that next year, Congress could be just as dysfunctional as they were this year.  Our advice is to ignore the Congressional drama and instead have a happy holiday season. For more information, please contact Jeff Shoaf at (202) 547-3350 or shoafj@agc.org.