The Senate failed to extend the payroll tax break last week but there are renewed efforts to push for a compromise measure. Republicans usually are in favor of any tax cuts but they helped defeat the payroll tax break extension attempts. They don’t like how to pay for the tax breaks. Democratic Senator Ben Cardin said that the Republicans have unfair demands.

According to Cardin, the Republicans said that they would support the extension of the payroll tax but they wouldn’t support any of the offsets for it. They would also not support the payroll tax without any offsets.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said that a compromise measure would be unveiled. He got his information from Senator Kent Conrad, who is the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. Republicans said that they were not invited to the negotiations of the compromise.

There were also some Democrats who were unsure of extending the tax break because the tax revenues from them usually pay for Social Security benefits. Some felt that their constituents need any little boost they can get from the government.

Senator Cardin said that the tax break should be temporary. Middle class families would pay at least $1,000 in taxes once the payroll tax break is not extended.

Another part of President Barack Obama’s jobs plan was blocked by the Republicans in Senate. Last Thursday, they blocked a $60 billion proposal to repair bridges, highways and other transportation systems.

All 47 Senate Republicans, a Democrat and an independent voted against one piece of President Obama’s $447 billion stimulus plan that could help construction workers who were hit hard because of the housing meltdown as well as the economic problems. Construction workers have an unemployment rate of 13.3 percent, which is above the nationwide rate of 9.1 percent.

The bill needed at least 60 votes to advance in the 100-member Senate. At present, President Barack Obama’s jobs plan is dead in Congress. Democrats want the Republicans to vote on it one piece at a time. The economy would be an issue for next year’s presidential and congressional elections.

President Barack Obama had to convince the voters to vote for him again in the November 2012 presidential elections. One way to achieve that is by creating more jobs. Democrats would pay for the jobs plan by increasing taxes on the wealthy. Republicans are against this provision but surveys show that job creation is popular among the voters.

Under the Democratic bill, rich Americans who make more than $1 million each year would have 0.7 percent increase on their income tax rates. Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said that majority of those affected by the tax hike would be business owners.

Republican Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to come out with compromise of the jobs bill for a vote. He said that he had a talk with Reid last Friday with regards to the lack of cooperation between the Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

He urged the Senate Majority Leader to get the components of President Barack Obama’s jobs bill that both Democrats and Republicans can agree on. This version of the measure should be put to the floor of the Senate for a vote.

Senator Brown said that controversial issues such as entitlement reform and tax increases should be left to the 12 member committee that’s in charged with tackling the nation’s financial problems. Brown is seeking reelection next year and states that he supports some parts of President Obama’s jobs bill.

To improve his reelection chances, Brown recently hosted a jobs fair in Boston. This is to make good on his promise to put the state’s residents back to work. There were 60 participating employers that represented Massachusetts’s industries including hospital groups and organizations. The jobs fair also offer advice on interviewing techniques and resume writing. Brown took the position last year and said that one of his main focuses is job creation.

The Senate came up with a bipartisan plan on Monday that would avoid the occurrence of a government shutdown and prevented an impasse over disaster funding after the federal government said that it only has $114 million in its coffer. The Senate came up with the agreement after blocking a Democratic proposal.

The Senate voted 79 to 12 to approve a seven week extension of financing for government agencies that were about to run out of funds by the end of the week. It would also replenish the funds of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which were nearly exhausted after the natural disasters experienced during last summer.

With the fresh funds, the FEMA didn’t have to rely on cuts from other agencies, which the House Republicans wanted to happen. The Democrats in both House and Senate disagreed because they said it would leave a bad precedent.

All signs pointed to a second government shutdown. Both parties argued about the funds for disaster aid and the Democrats attempted to press President Obama’s jobs plan. To ease the objections, the Senate passed a measure that would extend government funds for four more days to allow both parties to work on a longer-term agreement after the House comes back next week.

Analysts say that a last minute debt limit deal will depend on Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. For several weeks he has been discussing with Vice President Joe Biden, with whom he made a deal last December to extend the Bush-era tax cuts.

Senator McConnell also had a meeting with President Barack Obama last Saturday to discuss the possibilities as the August 2 deadline nears. At the same time, he had to calm down the worried Republican senators.

The Democrats state that McConnell has been insincere with his negotiating and was not seen in the past days leading to the weekend and the government is on the verge of defaulting on its obligations. McConnell is faced with opposing goals. He must be loyal with House Speaker Boehner while at the same time find a compromise with the Democrats.

McConnell talked with Vice President Biden but he refused to come up with a deal with the Democrats as the House Speaker tried to pass a bill that didn’t have a chance to be approved in the Senate. It is up to the Senate Minority Leader to offer concessions that can be approved by both the Republican House and the Democratic Senate.

Congressional leaders are scrambling to finalize their separate debt ceiling plans so that their colleagues can have the chance to vote on them as the August 2 deadline is fast approaching. Press secretary Jay Carney said that the deadline to raise the debt limit remains and the government could default on its obligations if Congress fails to increase the ceiling in time.

The Republican plan is made by House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio. It will raise the debt ceiling by $900 billion and cut spending by at least $1.2 trillion. It was scheduled to be voted on by Congress on Wednesday but Boehner pulled it back after the Congressional Budget Office said the plan fell short on the speaker’s cost-cutting goal.

After a few improvements on the plan, the CBO placed the cost savings at $915 billion. It is still less than what the GOP leaders wanted but more than the amount of the debt ceiling increase that Boehner planned to install.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada’s proposal would increase the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion with spending cuts of $2.7 trillion. The CBO said that Reid’s plan didn’t add up to the proposed spending cuts but Reid said he was comfortable with the agency’s $2.2 trillion savings.

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner gave two competing plans last Monday as the Democrats and Republicans still haven’t reached an agreement with regards to the nation’s debt cap. The two parties can’t seem to agree on the size of the debt limit increase.

The House Republicans want a raise of $1 trillion, which would be enough to keep the government running for six months. They want future increases to be tied with spending cuts. They also want a House and Senate vote on balanced budget amendment.

On the other hand, the Senate wants to pass a $2.4 trillion increase to the debt ceiling. This amount would be enough to last until the 2012 election. President Obama asks the public to urge Congress to agree to a compromise.

House Speaker Boehner said that he tried to negotiate with President Obama but they couldn’t come up with a common ground. He added that the president is firm with his stand on the ceiling limit. The House will vote on the measure on Wednesday but the Senate hasn’t announced a timetable for their plan.

A few days are left to come with a deal before the government faces the possibility of default. The good news is that both parties are willing to increase the debt limit. They just need to find the right amount that both parties can agree upon.

Republicans in the House passed a legislation that calls for a limit on spending by the federal government and an amendment to the constitution that would try to decrease the budget deficit. It would not progress in the Senate. President Barack Obama said that they should already consider a solution to solve the budget problem before time runs out.

Obama commended the new proposal made by a bipartisan group of senators called the Gang of Six. Their plan is to combine revenue increases and spending cuts in a $3.7 trillion deficit cut that would be a compromise between the president and House Speaker John A. Boehner.

The House vote is a symbolic move because it doesn’t have the chance to be passed in Senate. It was started by the House GOP leaders to rally the conservatives who oppose higher debt limit. Their plan is to cut the federal spending by $110 billion in the 2012 fiscal year. They also want a constitutional amendment that would mandate a balanced federal budget but it must be voted by two-thirds of the House and Senate, which is most likely not to happen at this time.

All except for nine Republicans voted in favor of the bill. Tea party activists and House GOP first-termers should lower their expectations as negotiations are still underway to find a solution to the looming disaster.

Senate’s Majority and Minority leaders proposed a plan that would give President Barack Obama the capability to raise the debt ceiling without the need for congressional approval. This is the best solution to prevent a federal default from happening.

The plan was drafted jointly by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. It would bring around $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction for the next ten years. This is smaller than what President Obama or the Republican leaders are aiming for.

The White House said it prefers a more comprehensive deal with regards to the deficit but added that the deal would be accepted by President Obama. The Conservatives in the House are opposing the said deal.

Efforts for a larger deficit reduction deal are still going nowhere. McConnell proposed the measure earlier this week as a way to end the deadlock and avoid the political and economic disaster from happening.

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio said that the last minute effort could be palatable in the time being. The plan came after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned that time is wasted on debates as the deadline nears. He added that Congress and White House should approve the debt limit increase before the government runs out of funds on August 2.

Supporters and opponents of same sex marriage made their last minute appeals last Sunday as state legislators are set to vote on making New York the sixth state in the United States to make gay marriage legal.

Governor Andrew Cuomo introduced the measure that would make same sex marriage in New York legal. At present it is one vote away from approval in the Senate. The New York Congress already approved the bill last week. Monday is the last day of the legislative session before it goes on summer recess.

The Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, maintained that the Catholic Church is against same sex marriage and vows to block any bill that would redefine the meaning of marriage. He asks for a referendum on the issue. But recent polls show that there’s an overwhelming support for same sex marriage in New York. Dolan added that the bill would redefine the meaning of father, mother, husband and wife.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said that there are concerns about how the religious clauses and exemptions in the bill. Though the bill doesn’t force the clergy to conduct gay marriages, the Republican lawmakers in the Senate are concerned about the legal protections.