The Republican-led House called on the Democratic-controlled Senate to return to Capitol Hill to approve a one-year extension of the payroll tax cut.

On a party-line vote of 229-193, the House on Tuesday rejected a Senate amendment that authorized only two-month extensions of the tax cut and unemployment benefits.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid adjourned his chamber Saturday, with no plans to reconvene. If an agreement is not reached by Jan. 1, the tax cut will expire.

Reid's move angered House Republicans, who noted that the Senate, which had failed to produce a bill of its own, simply amended the House measure and went home.

Democrats responded that their amendment had bipartisan support, passing 89-10, and accused "radical tea party" House Republicans of holding up the tax cut. Both Florida senators, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Marco Rubio, voted for the two-month version.

House Republicans on Tuesday blasted Reid's change-it-and-go-home strategy.

"That's not compromise. That's capitulation. And we're not willing to do that," said Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho.

Other Republicans noted that the Senate's passive-aggressive behavior was consistent for a body that has failed to pass a budget in nearly 1,000 days.
Incensed conservatives called the two-month extension a political ploy to keep the tax-cut issue burning in the 2012 election year.

Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa., tipped the Democrats' hand Tuesday when he called on his fellow members to accept the Senate plan and "help this president who is lifting this economy."

Ironically, the White House supported a one-year extension of the payroll tax cut when Republicans were lukewarm to the idea. Pointing out that the payroll tax is the chief funding source for Social Security, GOP leaders preferred reductions in overall tax rates instead.

A year-long payroll tax cut for a worker earning $50,000 amounts to about $1,000. Some 160 million workers would be affected. Failure to extend jobless benefits past February would end aid to nearly 2.5 million jobless workers.

As the clock wound down toward the Christmas holiday, the House passed one-year extensions with the expectation that senators would go along -- or at least stick around to hash out the differences. They did neither.

Characterizing the Senate's amendment as a "bipartisan compromise," President Barack Obama on Tuesday called it "the only viable way to prevent a tax hike on Jan. 1."

Rep. Sandy Adams, R-Orlando, threw that assertion back at the White House.

"President Obama said it would be ‘inexcusable’ for Congress not to extend the payroll tax cut extension for an entire year, and I agree. It’s time for the Senate to end their vacation and return to Washington so that we can work on long-term legislation that would benefit the American people," Adams said.

Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Jacksonville, said a House-Senate Conference Committee could work out the differences before the new year.

“I am ready to work as long as it takes. The time to create certainty and jobs is now, not next February,” he said.

Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Tallahassee, excoriated the Senate's two-month patch, saying it provided only a "life preserver," not a "lifeboat."

Southerland said Democrats failed to adopt several of the House's economy measures, including a freeze on congressional and federal-employee pay to help fund the continued tax cuts.