WASHINGTON (AP) - Partisan to the core, Congress careened toward a holiday-season standoff Monday on legislation to prevent a Social Security payroll tax increase for 160 million workers on Jan. 1.
"It's time to stop the nonsense. We can resolve these differences and we can do it in a way that provides certainty for job creators and others," said Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. He said the House would reject a bipartisan two-month extension that cleared the Senate over the weekend and seek negotiations on a bill to renew the cuts through 2012.
In an acid response, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accused Boehner of risking a tax increase for millions "just because a few angry tea partyers raised their voices." The Nevada Democrat ruled out new negotiations until the two-month measure is enacted.
That left the two parties approaching Christmas-week gridlock over an effort to pass core elements of President Barack Obama's jobs program - renewal of the tax cuts and long-term unemployment benefits - that Republican and Democratic leaders alike said they favored.
It was the latest and likely the last such partisan confrontation in a year of divided government that brought the Treasury to the brink of a first-ever default last summer, and more than once pushed the vast federal establishment to the edge of a partial shutdown.
This time, unlike the others, Republican divisions were prominently on display.
The two-month measure that cleared the Senate, 89-10, on Saturday had the full support of the GOP leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, who also told reporters he was optimistic the House would sign on. Senate negotiators had tried to agree on a compromise to cover a full year, but were unable to come up with enough savings to offset the cost and prevent deficits from rising.
The two-month extension was a fallback, and officials say that when McConnell personally informed Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of the deal at a private meeting, they said they would check with their rank and file.
But on Saturday, restive House conservatives made clear during a telephone conference call that they were unhappy with the measure.