House rejects tax cut deal

WASHINGTON – The fate of the two-month Social Security tax break extension suddenly became uncertain Sunday as House Speaker John Boehner said he and most Republicans were opposed to the plan.

“It’s pretty clear that I and our members oppose the Senate bill,” Boehner, R-Ohio, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Republicans, he said, want a longer-term fix.

Boehner was reflecting the view of many House Republicans, who complained about the deal in a conference call hours after the Senate overwhelmingly approved the measure Saturday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., reacted angrily. “Instead of threatening middle-class families with a thousand-dollar tax hike, Speaker Boehner should bring up the bipartisan compromise that (Republican Senate Leader Mitch) McConnell and I negotiated, and which passed the Senate with an overwhelming majority of Democratic and Republican votes,” Reid said.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said: “This is the latest example of the tea-party Republicans sacrificing the good of the country on the altar of extreme ideology.”

It was thought that Republicans would support the temporary extension, particularly since they included a GOP provision to speed up consideration of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

But Boehner, as well as other Republicans, made it clear that they didn’t like a two-month fix.

“I believe that two months is just kicking the can down the road. The American people are tired of that. Frankly, I’m tired of it,” Boehner said.