Bloomberg Business Week (01/30/12) Ian Katz
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is expressing confidence that Congress will reach bipartisan agreement on a payroll tax-cut extension supported by President Barack Obama. “We are in a formal conference with the Senate, and I’m confident that we’ll be able to resolve this fairly quickly,” says Boehner. A short-term extension of the payroll tax cut expires Feb. 29, and the president is seeking to have it extended until the end of 2012. Unless Congress acts, the two percentage point payroll tax-break for employees will lapse, as will emergency unemployment benefits.