WASHINGTON — 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 jump-starting 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 because 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.
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.
Some specifics
Components of the House Republican plan to extend the Social Security payroll-tax cut through 2012:
• Extends for one year the reduction of the payroll tax from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent of wages. Cost: $121 billion.
• Extends benefits for the unemployed but gradually reduces the maximum for receiving benefits from 99 to 59 weeks. Cost: $34 billion.
• Prevents doctors who serve Medicare patients from being hit with a 27 percent cut in reimbursement rates. Instead, there would be a 1 percent increase for 2012 and 2013. Cost: $39 billion.
• Extends the pay freeze for federal workers, including members of Congress, through 2013. Savings: $26 billion.
• Changes the co-pay structure for civilian federal retirees. Savings: $36 billion.
• Increases guaranty fees on mortgage-backed securities sold to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Savings: $38 billion.
• Denies child tax credits to illegal immigrants. Savings: $9.4 billion.
• Gradually increases Medicare premiums for higher-income beneficiaries. Savings: $31 billion.
• Repeals prevention and public health fund; targets waste in the health care act passed last year. Savings: $43 billion.
The Associated Press
