Boehner to Senate: Let's bargain on payroll tax

(AP) - House Republican leaders are renewing their call for the Democratic-led Senate to bargain with them and try toend the stalemate over extending a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits.
House Speaker John Boehner and other top House Republicans met Wednesday, saying Senate negotiators should join them in a search for compromise. Minutes earlier, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released a letter to Boehner urging him to bring the House back to Washington. Reid wants the House to approve a bipartisan Senate-approved bill extending the tax cut and jobless benefits for two months, and then bargain over a yearlong extension.
House Republicans want to extend the tax cut and jobless benefits for a year.
The payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed ends Jan. 1.