From House Speaker John Boehner: "Senator Reid and I have reached an agreement that will ensure taxes do not increase for working families on January 1 while ensuring that a complex new reporting burden is not unintentionally imposed on small business job creators.

"Under the terms of our agreement, a new bill will be approved by the House that reflects the bipartisan agreement in the Senate along with new language that allows job creators to process and withhold payroll taxation under the same accounting structure that is currently in place. 

"The Senate will join the House in immediately appointing conferees, with instructions to reach agreement in the weeks ahead on a full-year payroll tax extension. We will ask the House and Senate to approve this agreement by unanimous consent before Christmas. I thank our Members – particularly those who have remained here in the Capitol with the holidays approaching – for their efforts to enact a full-year extension of the payroll tax cut for working families."

House leader Eric Cantor says President Obama should come up to the Hill for some negotiating on extending the payroll tax break. Noting he saw newsclips of Obama Christmas shopping with First Dog Bo, Cantor quipped, "he can bring Bo here, we are pet friendly."

House Republicans are sticking to their guns in opposition to the two-month Senate compromise, with House Speaker John Boehner saying he told Obama during their phone call Wednesday that a one year bill is "simply better for jobs and better for our economy."

Boehner says the two-month Senate compromise would only provide a "measly" amount of cash and "perpetuates the uncertainty" that already emanates from Washington: "The fact is, we can do better."

The House's eight negotiators said they've got word from small businesses that two months isn't good enough. But the White House -- which supports and has pushed for a one-year extension all along -- says the time for negotiations is over and the House needs to come to the table.

House GOP'ers called on Obama to get Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to send the Senate back. And House members accused senators of pushing a quick fix in a "rush to get out of town.

"I want to ask those senators why would you vote for such a short term solution," said Rep. Renee Ellmers, whose fellow North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr, voted for the measure. "So you could go home for the holidays?"

 House of Representatives Republican leaders met Wednesday in a largely-empty Capitol, ready to iron out a compromise on the Social Security payroll tax break.

But Democrats, and Senate Republicans, have not named negotiators, so there were no talks.

"We’re here. We’re ready to go to work. And we’re hoping that Senate Democrats will appoint negotiators, come to the table, and resolve these differences," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

"I think it’s important to note that the president, bipartisan leaders in the House and bipartisan leaders in the Senate, have all really asked for the same thing over the course of the last several months: let’s extend the payroll tax credit for a year. And all we’re asking for is to get the Senate members over here to work with us to resolve our differences so we can do what everybody wants to do: extend the payroll tax credit for the next year. I’m hoping that they’re ready to work as we are.”

So House Speaker John Boehner has named Republicans to a conference, or negotiating committee, to seek a compromise on the Social Security payroll tax plan. What about the Democrats?

They won't play the Charlie Brown role, says their House of Representatives leader.

"Are you not in some ways to blame for the stalemate by not naming your conferees?" Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was asked at a Tuesday news conference.

"No," she said. "It is not a question of blame for stalemate. It is a question of there is a bill that has passed the House and Senate that was designed to pass. The Republicans have put forth a path that is designed to fail. This bill that the Republicans passed in the House was not even brought up in the Senate. The Republicans in the Senate objected to it being brought up because they said they knew it would fail. And the bill that is in the House was not brought up by the House Republicans because, the Senate bill, because they knew it would pass.

"He is not Lucy. I'm not Charlie Brown. We are not falling for that football stunt again. Senator Mitch McConnell fell for it, but we are not falling for it. This is not about getting a bill passed. This is about not getting a bill passed."

The Senate passed a bipartisan compromise Saturday; the House, in a largely party-line vote, rejected it.

"Make no mistake," Pelosi said, "the fact is a clear one, if we do not have a payroll tax cut, it is because the Republicans in the House of Representatives have chosen to paint themselves in a different place than the Republicans in the country and the Republicans in the United States Senate. They are clearly isolating themselves.

" And I will not play Charlie Brown to their Lucy. They have pulled this football every single time. We are not going to let them mislead the American people."

 House of Representatives Republicans are ready to negotiate on the Social Security payroll tax break.

After voting to disagree with the Senate approach--a two-month extension--Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he'd appoint negotiators to pursue a one-year extension.

“The House voted to extend payroll tax relief, and to extend and reform unemployment insurance, for a full year – as requested by the president. Senate Democrats voted to extend these programs for only two months – a proposal that non-partisan experts say will create substantial confusion and new costs for job creators,” he said.

“There’s no reason for millions of Americans to see their taxes go up or for Washington to make things harder on struggling small businesses. A formal House-Senate conference committee can resolve the differences between our year-long tax cut extension and Democrats’ short-term bill. We can avoid a needless tax hike on middle class families if Senate Democrats will work with us and appoint negotiators to extend the payroll tax cut for another year and help create new jobs.”

The appointees to the committee include: Reps. Kevin Brady (R-TX), Dave Camp (R-MI), Renee Ellmers (R-NC), Nan Hayworth (R-NY), Tom Price (R-GA), Tom Reed (R-NY), and Fred Upton (R-MI).

No announcements yet from Democrats.

Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR)

House Democratic leaders made it clear after meeting with rank-and-file members Monday: They want the Senate bill on the Social Security payroll tax passed.

House Republicans are balking, saying the two-month extension is too short. They want a year. Well, said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., so do we. But the two parties could not agree how to fund  a year extension, so two months is the compromise.

"The Senate did compromise" she told reporters. The Senate voted 89-10 Saturday to pass the plan.

But, a reporter said, House GOP leaders were not involved in that compromise.

"No," Pelosi said, "but the Speaker has said very clearly all along that (Senate Majority) Leader (Harry) Reid should negotiate with (Senate Republican) Leader (Mitch) McConnell.  This is the compromise.  This is the compromise.  This isn’t a bill that we were advocating.  We want one year.  This is the compromise.  This is just moving the goal post."  

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Monday made it clear that he's in no mood to compromise on the Social Security payroll tax cut. The Senate passed a two-month extension Sunday; House Republicans are balking.

Here's Reid's statement:

“My House colleagues should be clear on what their vote means today. If Republicans vote down the bipartisan compromise negotiated by Republican and Democratic leaders, and passed by 89 senators including 39 Republicans, their intransigence will mean that in ten days, 160 million middle class Americans will see a tax increase, over two million Americans will begin losing their unemployment benefits, and millions of senior citizens on Medicare could find it harder to receive treatment from physicians.

“Senator McConnell and I negotiated a compromise at Speaker Boehner’s request. I will not re-open negotiations until the House follows through and passes this agreement that was negotiated by Republican leaders, and supported by 90 percent of the Senate. “This is a question of whether the House of Representatives will be able to fulfill the basic legislative function of passing an overwhelmingly bipartisan agreement, in order to protect the economic security of millions of middle-class Americans. Democratic and Republican leaders negotiated a compromise and Speaker Boehner should not walk away from it, putting middle-class families at risk of a thousand-dollar tax hike just because a few angry Tea Partiers raised their voices to the Speaker.

“I have always sought a year-long extension. I have been trying to forge one for weeks, and I am happy to continue negotiating one once we have made sure middle-class families will not wake up to a tax increase on January 1st. So before we re-open negotiations on a year-long extension, the House of Representatives must protect middle-class families by passing the overwhelmingly bipartisan compromise that Republicans negotiated, and was approved by ninety percent of the Senate.”

"Vacation Can Wait. We Can't" says the headline of a statement Monday morning from House Speaker John Boehner's office.

The House of Representatives is expected to vote Monday night on a plan to cut Social Security taxes. But it's expected to reject the two month extension passed by the Senate Saturday. House Republicans want a full year extension.

And, the speaker's office said, they're ready to work through the holidays.

"Senate Democrats' bill – a step backward that would create more uncertainty for job creators already struggling under President Obama's failed economic policies – is not worth celebrating with American families. Families and small business owners asking 'where are the jobs?' deserve better than tax policy in two-month increments," the speaker's office statement said.

"The president has said repeatedly that no one should be going on vacation until this work is done. Republicans agree. The question now is whether President Obama will live up to his words and hold members of his party to theirs so Congress can complete a one-year extension of payroll tax relief."

Congressional Democrats, and the White House, Sunday railed against House of Representatives Republican leaders for threatening to undo the compromise tax plan that passed the Senate Saturday.

The plan would extend several expiring provisions for two months, including a 2 percentage point cut in the employee Social Security tax.

So, said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Republicans should stop complaining--and, she said, stop listening to the Tea Party movement, the conservative grassroots movement that is demanding more fiscally responsible government.

"The Republican Tea Party's tax increase will hurt the middle class and hinder the economic recovery. And they know it," Pelosi said. "The bipartisan agreement successfully negotiated by Leader Reid and Leader McConnell and passed by the Senate with 89 bipartisan votes, took us to a place where we could continue the debate on behalf of the middle class, while ensuring that working families will not see their taxes increase on January 1.

“By holding up this bipartisan compromise, Tea Party House Republicans are walking away once again, showing their extremism and clearly demonstrating that they never intended to give the middle class a tax cut."

She called on House Speaker John Boehner to "bring the Senate-passed bipartisan bill to the floor immediately. The only thing standing in the way of a middle class tax cut is Tea Party Republicans in the House with their latest made-up crisis just days before Christmas.”

The White House is accusing House Republicans of "playing politics" by saying they won't go along with a Senate-approved plan to extend the payroll tax cut by another two months.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer noted Sunday that the measure cleared the Senate on Saturday with 89 votes, "including 39 Republican votes" and that House Speaker John Boehner Saturday called it a "good deal" and a "victory."

But Sunday Boehner said the deal was "just kicking the can down the road" and that he and other GOP'ers opposed it. 

The White House warned that the GOP will be painted as raising taxes: "They should pass the two month extension now to avoid a devastating tax hike from hitting the middle class in just 13 days," Pfeiffer said in a statement. "It’s time House Republicans stop playing politics and get the job done for the American people."