WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is getting ready to vote on extending a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers and jobless benefits for people out of work the longest, a showdown that many legislators hope will finally end a standoff that has dominated Washington since the fall.
Lawmakers were expecting the House and Senate to vote Friday on the $143 billion package, which also would forestall deep cuts in Medicare reimbursements to doctors. The tax cuts, jobless coverage and higher doctors’ payments would all run through 2012.
Passage seemed virtually assured in the House and likely in the Senate, though questions about its fate there were growing amid defections by senators of both parties.
Approval would hand election-year bragging rights to President Barack Obama, who made the tax cut and jobless benefit extensions a cornerstone of his September jobs package, over objections from many Republicans.
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