The details of the tentative agreement between House and Senate negotiators on resolving the extension of the payroll tax cut, unemployment benefits, and averting a steep cut in reimbursements to Medicare providers haven't been fully released, but the basics of the agreement have trickled out.
As has been previously reported, the payroll tax cut will be extended through 2012 without an offset, at a cost of $185 billion. The Medicare reimbursement fix is pegged at $25 billion, and unemployment insurance at $25 to $30 billion, with the offsets coming from "savings from other healthcare-related matters, according to sources," and "spectrum sales and savings from federal workers’ pensions are being discussed as offsets for unemployment insurance."
The unemployment insurance extension looks to be the most contentious issue at the moment. The Washington Post is reporting that unemployment benefits will end at 73 weeks, from the current 99. But The Hill is reporting that the "maximum number of weeks would remain 99 at first, before being reduced to 73 by the end of the year. Republicans have said the reforms would eventually cap the number of weeks at 63 in most states."
Not all of the restrictions Republicans wanted to impose on the unemployed have survived, although Democrats have apparently agreed to allowing states to do limited drug-testing of beneficiaries, “to drug screen workers seeking a job that requires a drug test or who lost a job due to a failed drug test.”
This is not a final deal, lawmakers stress, including Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-CA) and House Speaker John Boehner, who might just be getting a little testy with his caucus.
Boehner says the deal still hasn't been finalized; there is GOP grumbling about just adding more to the deficit
— @jamiedupree via TweetDeck
They want to strike the deal today so that they can vote by the end of the week and get the hell out of Dodge on their scheduled recess. Because you know how they
feel about their vacation time.