Although the Bush tax cuts were extended without offsets to pay for them, House Speaker John Boehner (R) said that a payroll tax cut extension favored by President Barack Obama and Democrats must be paired with equal cuts to avoid raising federal deficits. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) once said that "you should never have to offset the cost" of tax cuts on Americans." The party appears to be making an exception for extending a cut that reduces the Social Security payroll tax paid by employees by half, to 3.1. percent of wages from 6.2 percent.
