Dold: House payroll move not a "political punt"

Tenth District Congressman Robert Dold checked in with us this afternoon about the status of House Republicans' negotiations on a payroll tax extension.

The House Tuesday afternoon moved to reject the short-term deal passed by the Senate over the weekend, calling for formal negotiations on the tax break set to expire at the end of the year - estimated to save American workers roughly $1,000 apiece.

WE I asked Dold whether he called the House's vote for formal negotiations on the issue - sending it to conference - a political punt.

He said "absolutely not."

"I think what we don't want to do is say we're going to do (the payroll tax extension) for two months." He called that "a punt" instead.

Republicans, like Dold, want a full-year extension in lieu of the two month stopgap measure approved by the Senate - with only 10 senators, one of them Highland Park Republican Mark Kirk voting against the deal over the weekend.

Since Dold called, several other members of the Illinois Delegation - House GOP Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam, of Wheaton, (recently engaged) 11th District Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Mateno and 8th District Congressman Joe Walsh of McHenry- have issued statements in support of the longer extension.

Dold said he's spent time talking to Kirk - his predecessor in the 10th Congressional District in northern Cook and Lake Counties - about the deal.

"We have notices that we are ready to come back at any time," Dold said.

"It is the right policy because one of the lessons of Europe is that you can't run retirement security programs without contributions to retirement security," Kirk told C-SPAN. "Seniors have enough to worry about as it is without the Congress voting on a bipartisan basis to undermine contributions to Social Security."