The Senate is scheduled to vote on the new tax bill designed to extend unemployment insurance tomorrow. In order for the bill to pass, 60 of the 100 Senators will need to vote in favor of the legislation. Many Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats are still weary of the bills price tag, and some bloggers are predicting the bill will not pass. Read more from this Reuters.com story below.
According to Reuters.com, Majority Leader Harry Reid moved toward an initial vote on the $126 billion earlier this week.
Under Senate rules, the vote on whether to limit debate on the legislation will likely occur Wednesday. Sixty votes are needed out of the 100-member Senate.
Complaints by fiscally conservative Democrats about the plan's price tag and opposition by some Democrats to the investment fund manager tax has stalled the proposal.
According to several lobbyists, the majority Democrats remain shy of the 60 votes necessary. They need to attract as least one Republican plus keep all of the 59 votes they generally hold in the chamber.
Over the next 10 years, the Senate proposal would increase direct spending by $126 billion and add $22 billion in funding to prevent a 21 percent payment cut to doctors in the Medicare program, the Congressional Budget Office estimated.
