Tentative payroll tax cut agreement WASHINGTON (AP) — House-Senate talks on renewing a payroll tax cut that delivers about $20 a week to the average worker yielded a tentative agreement Tuesday, with lawmakers hopeful of unveiling the pact today and
Tentative payroll tax cut agreement
WASHINGTON (AP) — House-Senate talks on renewing a payroll tax cut that delivers about $20 a week to the average worker yielded a tentative agreement Tuesday, with lawmakers hopeful of unveiling the pact today and sending the measure to President Barack Obama as early as this week.
Under the outlines of the emerging agreement, a 2 percentage-point cut in the Social Security payroll tax would be extended through the end of the year, with the nearly $100 billion cost added to the deficit. Jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed would be renewed as well, with the $30 billion or so cost paid for in part through auctioning broadcast spectrum to wireless companies and requiring federal workers to contribute more toward their pensions. The payroll tax cut benefits 160 million Americans and delivers a tax cut of about $20 a week for a typical worker making $50,000 a year. People making a $100,000 salary would get a $2,000 tax cut.
Gay couples wed at Empire State
NEW YORK (AP) — Two women who met as college students in Alaska and two men who met at a nightclub in Manhattan became the first same-sex couples Tuesday to be married at the Empire State Building.
“I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with you,” Stephanie Figarelle told Lela McArthur as they exchanged rings in a ceremony at the iconic skyscraper.
“I will always love you forever, with every beat of my heart,” said McArthur, who is taking her partner’s name.
Figarelle and McArthur were among four couples who won an online contest for a Valentine’s Day wedding at the Empire State Building designed by event planner Colin Cowie.
After the ceremonies in a 61st-floor area that is rented out for parties, the couples posed for photos on the 86th-floor observation deck. Figarelle, 29, and McArthur, 24, met in an anatomy class at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Celia Milton, the interfaith minister who married them, said that Figarelle invited McArthur out to see a drag show and McArthur thought she meant a drag race.
U.S. bishops fight birth control deal
ROME (AP) — The top U.S. Catholic bishop vowed legislative and court challenges Tuesday to a compromise by President Barack Obama to his healthcare mandate that now exempts religiously affiliated institutions from paying directly for birth control for their workers, instead making insurance companies responsible.
Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, who heads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in an interview with The Associated Press that he trusted Obama wasn’t anti-religious and intended to make good on his pledge to work with religious groups to fine-tune the mandate.
“I want to take him at his word,” Dolan said in Rome, where he will be made a cardinal Saturday. But he stressed: “I do have to say it’s getting harder and harder,” to believe Obama’s claim to prioritize religious freedom issues given the latest controversy.
