U.S. Senate advances tax bill
U.S. President Barack Obama's tax deal with Republicans gained enough votes in the Senate on Monday to move forward to final passage as the White House charts an untested bipartisan course into the New Year.
The unusual alliance of Obama and leaders of both parties in the upper chamber eased the bill, which averts a Jan. 1 income-tax increase for millions of Americans, over the first procedural hurdle by an 83-15 vote. It easily surpassed the necessary 60 of 100 votes needed to move the compromise to a final vote.
Senate passage of the bill is expected as early as Tuesday, and in a brief appearance at the White House, Obama called on the House of Representatives to follow suit quickly. He spoke amid indications a revolt among House Democratic liberals was ebbing, further improving prospects for quick enactment.
The tax deal moved forward as Congress winds down a final session before the Democrats cede their majority to Republicans in the House of Representatives in the next Congress. It convenes in early January.
The Senate will remain under Democratic control, but the president's party will hold a much diminished majority.
It was that reality, the result of a Republican landslide in congressional elections last month, that prompted Obama to strike the tax deal with Republicans.
The deal marks a test of how Obama will manage to govern without his party in control of both houses of Congress. His readiness to reach accommodation with the opposition party likely will set a pattern for the final two years of his term.
Eager to trumpet the Senate vote, Obama said even before the final tally was announced that it proved "that both parties can in fact work together to grow our economy and look out for the American people."
Despite strong criticism from fellow Democrats, Obama has made passage of the bill a key year-end priority, calling it essential for the economy as it struggles to recover from the worst recession in decades.
The compromise that came to a procedural vote in the Senate late Monday afternoon would extend Bush-era tax cuts for all income brackets, despite Obama's historic opposition to keeping lower rates in place for U.S. households earning more than $250,000 US a year.
Faced with the prospect of higher taxes across all income brackets, Obama chose compromise. In return, Republicans dropped opposition to an extension of payments to the long-term unemployed.
The deal would guarantee those payments continue for 13 months.
Additionally, the plan would reduce payroll taxes by two per cent. Those assessments go to fund Social Security, the federal pension system for older and disabled Americans.