WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives pushed ahead on Friday to extend a popular payroll tax cut for another year despite opposition within their own ranks.

Following a 90-minute closed-door meeting, many Republicans said there was strong opposition but that House Speaker John Boehner planned to work to renew President Barack Obama’s tax cut, which is set to expire on December 31.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate on Thursday defeated competing payroll tax cut extension plans by Democrats and Republicans, clearing the way for negotiations on compromise legislation that could boost the economy next year.

In late-night votes, the Senate, as expected, defeated a Democratic plan that would have extended and expanded the payroll tax cut that is scheduled to expire on December 31.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – After initial reluctance, Republicans in Congress on Tuesday threw their support behind a one-year extension of a payroll tax cut for workers aimed at helping stimulate the U.S. economy.

The move by Republicans could help avert an end-of-year battle with Democrats following months of bitter disputes over spending cuts, tax policy and government borrowing.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrats and Republicans in Congress on Monday exchanged their first blows in a battle over extending a payroll tax cut for workers, the latest in a series of polarizing fights that has worried investors.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid warned that failure to continue the tax holiday would hurt U.S. economic growth and could, according to some economists, push the country back into recession.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – It didn’t seem like mission impossible just two weeks ago.

Inside a private room on the first floor of the U.S. Senate, seven members of Washington’s debt “super committee,” munching beef jerky and talking taxes, thought for the first time a deal might be at hand.

WASHINGTON, Nov 22 (Reuters) – It didn’t seem like mission
impossible just two weeks ago.

Inside a private room on the first floor of the U.S.
Senate, seven members of Washington’s debt “super committee,”
munching beef jerky and talking taxes, thought for the first
time a deal might be at hand.

WASHINGTON, Nov 22 (Reuters) – It didn’t seem like mission
impossible just two weeks ago.

Inside a private room on the first floor of the U.S.
Senate, seven members of Washington’s debt “super committee,”
munching beef jerky and talking taxes, thought for the first
time a deal might be at hand.

WASHINGTON, Nov 21 (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers abandoned
their high-profile effort to rein in the country’s ballooning
debt on Monday in a sign that Washington likely will not be
able to resolve a dispute over taxes and spending until 2013.

The admission of defeat by Republicans and Democrats on a
12-member congressional “super committee” is likely to cement
perceptions among voters and investors that politicians are too
divided to tackle trillion-dollar budget deficits and a
national debt that now is roughly equal to the U.S. economy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lawmakers abandoned their high-profile effort to rein in the country’s ballooning debt on Monday in a sign that Washington likely will not be able to resolve a dispute over taxes and spending until 2013.

The admission of defeat by Republicans and Democrats on a 12-member congressional “super committee” is likely to cement perceptions among voters and investors that politicians are too divided to tackle trillion-dollar budget deficits and a national debt that now is roughly equal to the U.S. economy.

WASHINGTON, Nov 21 (Reuters) – After months of talks, the
high-profile congressional effort to rein in the ballooning
U.S. debt is expected to end in failure on Monday with
negotiators announcing they could not bridge deep divides over
taxes and spending cuts to reach a deal.

The Republican and Democratic leaders of a 12-member
congressional “super committee” are set to declare defeat in a
joint statement later on Monday. They failed to find enough
common ground on a package of at least $1.2 trillion in deficit
reduction over 10 years.