This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Washington • Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, is helping to lead a revolt against a compromise measure that would forestall tax hikes on some 160 million Americans and extend unemployment benefits to 2 million.
Chaffetz says the Senate-passed version of a payroll-tax-cut bill is "not nearly good enough" and called out his fellow Utah Republicans, Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee, for being "absolutely wrong" by supporting the deal struck over the weekend.
"We're not just going to capitulate to the Senate," Chaffetz said, "because they're lazy and don't do their job."
House Republicans are expected Tuesday to band together and reject the Senate measure, which would keep in place a payroll-tax cut for working Americans as well as continue federal benefits for those out of work more than six months and keep Medicare payments as is for doctors.
Chaffetz said a House version — which the Senate did not formally vote on and that the White House said it would veto — contains more certainty for the marketplace than the two-month punt contained in the Senate bill, which passed 89-10 on Saturday.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Monday he would not call the Senate back into session before the holidays if the House fails to pass the compromise measure.
"I have always sought a yearlong extension. I have been trying to forge one for weeks, and I am happy to continue negotiating one once we have made sure middle-class families will not wake up to a tax increase on Jan. 1," Reid said Monday. "So before we reopen negotiations on a yearlong extension, the House of Representatives must protect middle-class families by passing the overwhelmingly bipartisan compromise that Republicans negotiated and was approved by 90 percent of the Senate."
Hatch spokesman Matthew Harakal steered clear of criticizing or lauding the House Republicans and placed blame on Democrats. Harakal noted that his boss has "real concerns with a payroll-tax holiday" and its impact on Social Security.
"But we wouldn't be in this situation if Senate Democrats didn't waste valuable time on political show votes instead of finding a real resolution.," Harakal said. "Unfortunately, the White House failed to provide the real leadership to resolve this situation. It's a shame this is the path they choose to take."
Sen. Mike Lee's spokesman, Brian Phillips, also avoided talk about the House Republicans' efforts but said that while his boss wants "real tax reform," he didn't find the Senate measure "offensive enough to oppose."
"If they reject the Senate version, he'll wait and see what they come with as an alternative," Phillips said of Lee.
It was unclear how Utah's other two House members, Republican Rob Bishop and Democrat Jim Matheson, would vote on the compromise measure.
Congressional leaders thought they had a deal that could zip to approval before lawmakers called it quits for the year, but House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, heard an earful from rank-and-file members during a 90-minute conference call Saturday.
Chaffetz was one of those complaining.
"Two months doesn't do anything," he said of the compromise extension. "It makes it worse, not better."
Asked if Lee and Hatch were wrong to back it, Chaffetz didn't hesitate.
"Yeah, I think they were absolutely wrong," he said. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., "led them down an erroneous path."