House Passes Pay Freeze Bill

The House passed the payroll tax cut bill Tuesday night in a 234-193 vote. The bill contains a provision that would extend the current pay freeze on civilian federal employees for another year.

The House passed the payroll tax cut bill Tuesday night in a 234-193 vote. The bill contains a provision that would extend the current pay freeze on civilian federal employees for another year.

President Obama has vowed to veto the bill because it includes a requirement to construct an oil pipeline. There is also strong opposition to the bill in the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid is holding up a government spending bill until both sides can negotiate a compromise on the tax cut extension which is fueling concerns about a possible government shutdown.

When asked about the possibility of a government shutdown at the end of the week, House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said Congress might need to pass a short term spending measure to prevent a shutdown in the event that both parties fail to reach agreement on the unresolved issues.

Whitehouse Spokesman Jay Carney also acknowledged that a short term continuing resolution would be a possible solution in the interim to provide more time to work out a compromise on the payroll tax extension.

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Ian Smith is one of the co-founders of FedSmith.com. He has over 20 years of combined experience in media and government services, having worked at two government contracting firms and an online news and web development company prior to his current role at FedSmith.