In a December 19 editorial, The Washington Examiner attacked the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut passed by the Senate and claimed that “the Senate and Obama are insisting on a two-month rather than a 12-month deal.”

In fact, in his remarks about the payroll tax cut extension on December 17, Obama said he expects Congress to “extend this middle-class tax cut for the rest of the year”:

In the last few weeks, I set out a simple principle: Congress should not go home for vacation until it finds a way to avoid hitting 160 million Americans with a tax hike on January 1st. Extending the payroll tax cut that shows up in people's paychecks every week is an idea that I proposed in September as part of the American Jobs Act.

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So I'm very pleased to see the work that the Senate has done. While this agreement is for two months, it is my expectation -- in fact it would be inexcusable for Congress not to further extend this middle-class tax cut for the rest of the year. It should be a formality. And hopefully it's done with as little drama as possible when they get back in January.

Obama has long supported an extension of the payroll tax cut; last month, he called for the tax cut to be extended in speeches in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.

From the Examiner editorial:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a candidate for the Republican nomination for president, has suggested making Congress a part-time legislature. Whatever you think of the idea, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has already given us something approximating it by sending his members home without a proper payroll tax deal written into law. By passing an unworkable two-month deal as a “take-it-or-leave-it” proposition, then heading home, Reid has acted very much in the tradition of Obamacare, the massive and hastily assembled health care law whose drafting errors will haunt Americans until it is finally repealed.

In 2011, American workers enjoyed a 2 percent reduction in their payroll taxes under a deal struck between Congress and President Obama. Congress is trying to extend this lower rate, but the Senate and Obama are insisting on a two-month rather than a 12-month deal. In principle, making the extension effective for a full year is better tax policy because it creates more certainty.