Image source: The Washington Post

BY ZACH TOOMBS

The Senate approved a temporary payroll tax cut extension along with extended unemployment benefits Saturday. If the measure is also passed by the House of Representatives, 160 million Americans will keep the tax break, but only for two months.

FOX News has the report.

“It is a working weekend for the Senate, as you can see. And just a short time ago, senators passing a two-month extension of payroll tax cuts for almost every American worker. Take a live look at the Senate floor -- Democratic and GOP leaders going with just a short extension after failing to agree on big enough spending cuts. They also passed jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed.”

MSNBC’s Luke Russert says the House can be expected to confirm the Senate’s ruling in time for the holidays.

“Now this will go to the House of Representatives, where it’s expected to pass, but Speaker Boehner would still like to have his conference take a good look at it, scrub it...”

“It seems to have a clear pathway -- smooth sailing -- through the House of Representatives. And millions of Americans will not see $1,000 disappear from their paycheck, and millions of Americans who depend on unemployment benefits will continue to receive those, at least for the first two months.”

The tax cut extension encountered some opposition from Republican senators concerned about the cost of such a measure but passed easily by an 89-10 margin. Sweetening the deal for the GOP, the measure requires that President Barack Obama make a decision on the controversial keystone pipeline project within the next 60 days.

The decision over the construction of a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline has forced what many pundits see as a choice between promoting job creation or environmentalism, a tough spot for the president with an election looming. CNN’s Kate Balduan explains.

“This is a win for Republicans because they, as you heard Sen. McConnell say, it’s a job creator, they believe...”

“Many Democrats and the president have been opposed to that because they don’t think it’s related to the payroll tax issue, number one. And number two, the president had put off approval -- deciding on this pipeline -- for further environmental review. He said that this required more environmental review. Of course, Republicans dispute that and say it’s politically motivated.” 

Despite dodging another potential government shutdown, the Senate’s actions Saturday did not please NBC political analyst Mark Halperin, who says the temporary measure is just another example of classic Washington gridlock.

“Look, if you look at the history of Congress, the general rule is that they never do anything until the absolute last minute, when they have to. And in the partisan period in which we’re living right now, that rule’s magnified 20 times. So, they wanted to go home for Christmas. Neither side really wanted to do a short-term extension, but because they wanted to get home for Christmas, they decided to punt it into next year. That means the fighting is going to take place on a lot of these issues all over again.”

The Senate also approved a $1-trillion spending bill compromise Saturday to fund the day-to-day budgets of 10 cabinet agencies. The measure now awaits the president’s signature.