Southampton - Congressman Tim Bishop called on House Republican leadership to bring an up-or-down vote on the bipartisan package to prevent a tax hike for middle class families, which passed overwhelmingly in the Senate last week. Bishop said that Members should be allowed to vote for or against extending the payroll tax cut, unemployment insurance, and a provision to prevent a sharp cut in Medicare reimbursement rates for health services providers.

"Unless the House acts, on January 1, taxes will go up for 160 million working Americans," Congressman Bishop said. "House Republicans have chosen political games and unnecessary brinksmanship over middle class tax cuts and creating jobs."

House Republican leaders refused to allow a vote on the bipartisan two-month extension passed 89-10 in the Senate on Saturday, which was designed to extend current tax provisions while allowing time for more negotiations on extending the cut through the end of the year. The Senate adjourned for the year after that vote, with the understanding from Republican House leadership would bring the package to the floor with enough support to pass it. However, Tea Party Republicans stunned their leadership by rejecting the bipartisan deal on Saturday. To avoid having to vote against a middle-class tax cut, Republicans passed a resolution "disapproving" of it instead, with the same effect of spiking the bill.

"Middle class families don't care about the Washington blame game, they care about their paycheck," said Bishop. "Yet the House Republicans are exclusively focused on procedural nonsense to deflect public outrage over excessive partisanship. This 'my way or the highway' approach has led to an unprecedented downgrade of our nation's credit rating and greatly eroded public confidence in Congress, to the great detriment of our nation at a time of economic hardship."

Bishop said that inaction in the House would result in 176,700 New Yorkers losing unemployment insurance benefits by mid-February. It would also result in an immediate 27.4 percent cut to the reimbursement rates Medicare pays providers, potentially jeopardizing the ability of seniors to see the doctor of their choice.

Republicans insist on offsetting the cost of the payroll tax cut by forcing cuts to the federal government that will result in layoffs. Bishop said adding more Americans to the unemployment rolls would blunt the positive effect of the payroll tax cut on consumer confidence.