Press Release
WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) voted for legislation that will help create tens of thousands of new jobs, while also providing a tax holiday to those who need it most.
“This is a job-creating bill that extends a much needed middle-class tax holiday. It prevents doctors from being hit with a cut in Medicare reimbursement rates and reforms the unemployment insurance benefits program. Most importantly, however, this bill protects the Social Security Trust Fund from being raided and is paid for through spending cuts rather than tax increases on small businesses,” Gardner said.
Specifically, the Middle Class Tax Relief & Job Creation Act extends the current lower payroll tax rate for employees, which was reduced from 6.2 percent of wages to 4.2 percent, for one year. It ensures that taxes will stay lower for the nearly 170 million Americans who pay payroll taxes, with the average working family saving $1,000 in 2012.
The bill requires all state and federal Unemployment Insurance recipients to, as a condition of eligibility, search for work, be in a GED program if they have not finished high school (with common-sense exceptions such as for older workers), and participate in reemployment services to help them get back to work.
This bill also accelerates a decision on the Keystone XL energy pipeline, a measure that will help the private sector create more jobs. It requires that a permitting decision on the pipeline be made within 60 days unless the president determines the project is not in the national interest.
The House approved the Republican payroll tax holiday plan 234 to 193.
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