Agreement will extend exact same benefits as legislation Loebsack introduced in December
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Dave Loebsack released the following statement today on the deal to extend the payroll tax cut for the rest of the year. In December, the House and Senate leadership would not agree to a full year extension, and instead passed a two month patch. In response, Loebsack introduced the Tax Cuts for the Middle Class Act (HR 3746), which would have extended the tax cut for the rest of the year in order to prevent 160 million Americans from getting a tax hike on March 1st. The recently announced agreement extends the exact same benefit to Iowans as Loebsack’s legislation would have done two months ago.
“Extending this important tax cut did not have to go down to the last minute, once again. The legislation I introduced in December would have extended the tax cut just like this bill but without the brinksmanship,” said Loebsack. “The continued dysfunction of Washington is beyond the pale. The paychecks of hardworking Iowans should not be a pawn in the Republicans political games.
“While no compromise is perfect, I am pleased the House and Senate finally agreed and stopped letting commonsense solutions fall prey to partisan bickering. I had only hoped that this would have happened months ago.”
In addition to introducing the Tax Cuts for the Middle Class Act, Loebsack took multiple actions to extend the payroll tax cut, including urging Speaker Boehner multiple times to swiftly pass compromise legislation. Before the patch was passed in December, Loebsack was one of only six members in the House of Representatives who bucked both parties’ leadership and supported both his preferred plan and a second, compromise plan.
