This Senate amendment to the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011, jointly sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, would extend a payroll tax deduction for employers enacted as part of a fiscal 2011 budget agreement to February 29, 2012. It would continue the extended unemployment benefits program for the long-term jobless also through February 29, 2012, but it would shorten the maximum duration of those payments from as long as 99 weeks under some conditions to 79 weeks.

The legislation was intended to give Congress time to work out the funding details for a year-long extension of these benefits (through the end of December 2012).

The legislation would also delay a scheduled reduction in reimbursements to Medicare physicians until the end of February.

The bill would increase certain loan guarantee fees charged to financial institutions that do business with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two leading mortgage insurers. It would also increase Federal Housing Administration loan guarantee fees.

Language requiring that the White House issue an up-or-down decision on a permit for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring crude oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast, within 60 days of enactment is included in the legislation.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., was a reluctant supporter of the legislation. "Unfortunately, despite my and many of my colleagues' best efforts, this bill is deeply flawed. It doesn't provide needed certainty to Americans or to our economy because it does not provide a year-long extension of the payroll tax cut and jobless benefits, nor does it include needed reforms, like work sharing, which will help prevent layoffs in our still fragile economy. By insisting that jobless benefits be paid for, we are undermining the countercyclical nature of the program and blunting its purpose to stabilize our economy. But worst of all, it fails to address a provision of the unemployment insurance law that is absolutely necessary given our current employment crisis.

"As a result, this bill effectively cuts 20 weeks of unemployment benefits. This means Rhode Islanders who have exhausted their normal UI benefits and extended--EUC08--benefits in February will not be eligible to receive the same help that was given to an unemployed person in the same situation back in the middle of 2011."

Nonetheless, he concluded, "I could not in good conscience vote against providing a tax cut to the middle class and providing desperately needed relief to nearly 10,000 Rhode Islanders who would have lost jobless benefits through the month of January."

A vote on this amendment for cloture, which allows a bill to move forward for final debate and an up-or-down vote, succeeded, with 89 members (50 Democrats and 49 Republicans) voting in favor and 10 members (two Democrats and seven Republicans) voting against. One Republican did not vote. The bill as amended was then passed by the Senate by voice vote.