WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers reached a tentative deal on Tuesday on legislation aimed at boosting the economy by extending a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers through this year and continuing long-term jobless benefits, congressional aides said.

The tentative agreement, mainly negotiated by Democratic Senator Max Baucus and Republican Representative Dave Camp, is expected to be formally signed on Wednesday by the bipartisan negotiating panel they head. That would clear the way for a House of Representatives vote possibly by week’s end.

The agreement contains a complicated formula for long-term jobless benefits that would allow both Democrats and Republicans to declare victory. The maximum number of weeks to collect unemployment benefits, currently at 99, would gradually fall to 73 by year’s end, according to congressional aides.

Congressional Democrats had been pushing to keep the 99-week maximum for jobless benefits because millions of Americans are still struggling to find jobs, while Republicans wanted a 59-week cap. A 79-week compromise has been proposed by Obama.

Details of the accord were outlined late on Tuesday to Republican House members. A senior House Republican aide told Reuters the deal’s fate was still unclear.

Following the meeting of House Republicans, some balked at adding $100 billion to U.S. deficits by not covering the cost of lost revenues associated with extending the payroll tax cut through December 31. “What I heard I don’t like,” Representative Phil Gingrey told reporters.

But many Republicans seemed resigned to the deal’s passage.

WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers were close to a deal on Tuesday on legislation that would boost the economy in the short term by extending a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers through this year and continue long-term jobless benefits, congressional aides said.

A deal could be reached as early as Tuesday night if Republicans in the House of Representatives agreed to it, a congressional aide told Reuters. House members were due to meet at 6 p.m. (2300 GMT) to discuss it.

As Democratic and Republican negotiators worked on the final details of a broad agreement, President Barack Obama upped the pressure, telling lawmakers not to derail the economic recovery by allowing the measures to expire at the end of the month.

“Congress needs to extend that tax cut along with vital insurance lifelines for folks who have lost their jobs during this recession,” Obama said at the White House. “And they need to do it now without drama and without delay.”

The payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits are due to expire on Feb. 29.

The emerging agreement, which would still have to be approved by Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, includes a concession by Democrats to scale back jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed, from a 99-week maximum to 79 weeks, congressional aides told Reuters.

Congressional Democrats had been pushing to keep the 99-week maximum because millions of Americans are still struggling to find jobs, while Republicans wanted a 59-week cap. The 79-week compromise was originally proposed by Obama.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers were nearing a deal on Tuesday on legislation that would boost the economy in the short term by extending a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers and long-term jobless benefits for a full year, congressional aides said.

As Democratic and Republican negotiators worked on the final details of a broad agreement, President Barack Obama upped the pressure, telling lawmakers not to derail the economic recovery by allowing the measures to expire at the end of the month.

House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, and his lieutenants paved the way for a deal on Monday by backing down on the long-held Republican demand that the payroll tax cuts to be offset with spending cuts.

Boehner must still sell the concession, aimed at ensuring that Republicans do not get the blame for any tax hikes in an election year, to his often rebellious 242-strong caucus. He was due to meet them at 6 p.m. (2300 GMT).

Republicans have made deficit reduction their mantra as they paint Obama as a tax-and-spend liberal who has plunged the country deeper into debt. But Boehner’s concession means the payroll tax cut will go unpaid for, adding $100 billion to the U.S. deficit.

Extending the year-old payroll tax cut would keep the current 4.2 percent payroll tax, down from 6.2 percent, until December 31. Congress has until February 29 to pass legislation renewing the tax cut, as well as government benefits for the long-term unemployed, for the rest of the year.

Negotiators were trying to reach a deal on spending cuts for unemployment benefits, possibly by reducing the maximum number of weeks the long-term jobless can claim for financial aid, to 79 weeks from the current 99, as Obama has proposed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican leaders in the House of Representatives on Monday dropped their demand for spending reductions to pay for extending a tax cut for 160 million American workers, setting up a likely breakthrough for agreement with Democrats.

The about-face cleared the way for the Republican-led House to vote this week to renew for 10 months the tax cut set to expire on February 29.

The Democratic-led Senate would likely support the payroll tax extension as laid out by the Republicans, even though they prefer including in the deal provisions on jobless benefits and payments for doctors treating Medicare patients that Republicans now want to negotiate separately.

Notably, the offer was issued by both House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican, and his deputy Eric Cantor, who has often taken a more hardline approach in budget negotiations with Democrats over the past year.

Republicans made deficit reduction a rallying cry during last year’s budget battles with Democrats that brought the U.S. government to the edge of a shutdown three times and cost the country its coveted AAA credit rating from the Standard & Poor’s rating agency.

Dropping the demand for spending cuts to finance the payroll tax cut could draw fire from conservatives within the party who oppose adding to a trillion-plus deficit.

The decision, however, allows Republicans to put behind them an issue that has divided them and hurt their tax-cutting image among voters before the November elections.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A top Republican lawmaker predicted on Friday he would be exonerated by a congressional investigation into whether he broke any insider trading laws or ethics rules, but it was unclear if he would be able to retain his job as the chairman of a key committee.

“I welcome the opportunity to set the record straight,” said Spencer Bachus, chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. “I have fully abided by the rules governing members of Congress and look forward to the full exoneration this process will provide.”

The probe has generated speculation that he might be unable to hold on to his chairmanship unless the story quickly went away.

“If it doesn’t, I don’t doubt the leadership will quietly work to get him to step aside,” a Republican aide told Reuters.

Bachus’ committee oversees financial markets and the housing sector as well as the federal agencies in charge of regulating this area of the economy.

Barney Frank, the lead Democrat on Bachus’ panel, declined to comment on the investigation, but said, “In my dealings over the years with Spencer Bachus, with whom I disagree on a number of policy issues, I have found him to be honorable and straightforward.”

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating whether trades Bachus made in recent years, including at the height of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, broke insider trading laws because they were based on “material, non-public” inside information.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday the White House was working to address concerns raised by the Catholic Church over a new rule on contraceptives, and he believed an escalating election-year battle over the issue would be resolved.

The rule, announced on January 20, requires religious-oriented groups such as charities, hospitals and universities, but not churches, to provide coverage for birth control as other health insurance providers must do. The Catholic Church opposes most methods of birth control.

Top Republicans, including the party’s presidential candidates, have condemned the rule as an assault on religious liberty. Prominent Democrats and women’s health groups have urged President Barack Obama to hold his ground.

“I’m determined to see that this gets worked out and I believe we can work it out,” Biden, who is Catholic, told Cincinnati’s WLM radio station during a visit to Ohio.

ABC News, citing sources, said the rule had been the focus of an intense internal skirmish at the White House, with Biden, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and then-Chief of Staff Bill Daley warning it would spark heavy political fallout.

But they lost the fight to a group that included Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and senior advisers Valerie Jarrett and David Plouffe, who argued birth control saved women’s lives, reduced unwanted pregnancies and was a fundamental women’s health issue, ABC said.

The White House says the rule aimed to strike a balance between Catholic Church doctrine and women’s right to health care. But it created a political firestorm on a hot-button social issue during an election year dominated until now by debates over the faltering economy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Roman Catholic television network said on Thursday it has filed suit in federal court to block President Barack Obama’s new rule on contraceptives, while a Catholic Church leader and top Republicans stepped up their criticism of Obama.

The rule, implemented on January 20, requires religious-oriented groups such as charities, hospitals and universities, but not churches, to provide coverage for birth control as other health insurance providers must do. The Catholic Church opposes most methods of birth control.

EWTN Global Catholic Network said it filed its case in U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Alabama against the U.S. Department of Health Human Services and other government agencies seeking to stop the imposition of the rule. The case asks the court to find the rule unconstitutional, it said.

The rule has sparked a firestorm of criticism from U.S. Catholic leaders and Republicans, including the party’s presidential candidates, who have cast it as an assault by Obama on religious freedom.

EWTN Global Catholic Network calls itself the largest religious media network in the world, with satellite television, radio, and print news services, and other activities.

In another development, Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan, who is the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called on Obama to back off from the rule and said it contradicted assurances Obama gave him during a White House meeting in November.

Dolan, who has been designated by Pope Benedict for elevation to cardinal, said he now questions if he can work with Obama to settle concerns about the rule.

WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday denounced President Barack Obama’s new rule on contraceptives as an assault on “religious freedom” and vowed to stop it.

The controversy centers on a provision in the 2010 healthcare law that requires health insurance to cover basic birth control services for women – even at Catholic charities, hospitals and universities. Boehner said Obama should reverse the rule and Catholic bishops contend the policy infringes on religious liberty because the church does not condone birth control of any kind.

“This attack … cannot stand and will not stand,” Boehner, the top U.S. Republican in Congress, vowed in a speech on the floor of his chamber.

At the White House, press secretary Jay Carney said Obama will seek to ease concerns of critics but intends to implement the rule to give women access to contraceptives.

“There are ways to approach this that would ensure that the rule is implemented so that women have access to these important healthcare services no matter where they work, but also hopefully would allay some of the concerns,” Carney said.

Boehner said if the president refuses to rescind the measure, Congress will do so through the legislative process.

While Boehner may be able to get such a measure through the Republican-dominated House, he could face problems in the Senate, which is controlled by Obama’s fellow Democrats.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday denounced President Barack Obama’s new rule on contraceptives as an assault on “religious freedom” and vowed to stop it.

The controversy centers on a provision in the 2010 healthcare law that requires health insurance to cover basic birth control services for women – even at Catholic charities, hospitals and universities. Boehner said Obama should reverse the rule and Catholic bishops contend the policy infringes on religious liberty because the church does not condone birth control of any kind.

“This attack … cannot stand and will not stand,” Boehner, the top U.S. Republican in Congress, vowed in a speech on the floor of his chamber.

At the White House, press secretary Jay Carney said Obama will seek to ease concerns of critics but intends to implement the rule to give women access to contraceptives.

“There are ways to approach this that would ensure that the rule is implemented so that women have access to these important healthcare services no matter where they work, but also hopefully would allay some of the concerns,” Carney said.

Boehner said if the president refuses to rescind the measure, Congress will do so through the legislative process.

While Boehner may be able to get such a measure through the Republican-dominated House, he could face problems in the Senate, which is controlled by Obama’s fellow Democrats.