House Republicans moved Tuesday to reject a Senate-passed tax cut extension, hardening a standoff over whether to extend an expiring payroll tax cut and clouding the prospects for a clear resolution to prevent a tax hike on Jan. 1.

The House passed a measure that served the twin purposes of implicitly rejecting the Senate’s bipartisan legislation extending an expiring payroll tax cut for two months, while volleying House Republicans’ own proposal back to the Senate, where Democrats are in the majority.

Washington (CNN) — House Republican leaders put off until Tuesday a vote on a Senate plan to extend the payroll tax cut and said they were willing to work until the end of the year to negotiate a compromise with Senate Democrats.

The vote had been expected Monday night, but after a long meeting of the House Republican conference, GOP leaders said they would wait until Tuesday.

Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-California, told reporters that it was better to hold the vote “not in the dark of night but in the light of day.”

The delayed vote followed a day of escalating brinksmanship as legislators stepped up their game of chicken over the expiring payroll tax cut.

Washington (CNN) — The Senate on Saturday voted to extend the payroll tax cut by two months, after both sides were unable to reach a comprehensive agreement to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits for a full year.

The deal, passed in a 89-10 vote, includes a provision to speed up a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, giving the Obama administration 60 days to make a call on the project.

The plan was discussed with Senate caucuses of both parties in separate meetings Friday evening. The House still has to vote on the measure.

Washington (CNN) — The Senate gave approval Thursday to a giant $662 billion defense authorization bill, sending it to President Barack Obama for his signature.

On Wednesday, the White House lifted a veto threat against the bill after legislators made changes in language involving detainees.

In particular, the legislators added language to make clear that nothing in the bill requiring military custody of al Qaeda suspects would interfere with the ability of civilian law enforcement to carry out terrorism investigations and interrogations in the United States.

See why the FBI director wanted changes

The Senate blocked confirmation on Thursday of Richard Cordray, the former Ohio attorney general picked by President Obama to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

Democrats fell short of the 60 votes they needed in a procedural vote to move forward with the nomination of Cordray. Senate Republicans had spoken against the nomination, reflecting their concerns about the creation of the bureau, which was established in last year’s Wall Street reform bill.

Fifty-three senators voted for Cordray, while 45 — all Republicans — voted against ending debate on his nomination. Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) voted for Cordray, and Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) voted present.

The Senate on Thursday blocked another portion of President Obama’s jobs plan, a $60 billion bill to fund infrastructure projects around the country.

This is the second piece of the president’s proposal to be voted on and rejected in the Senate. The bill would have invested $50 billion dollars to fund immediate highway, transit, rail and aviation projects. And it would have put $10 billion toward a national infrastructure bank.

The Senate voted 51-49 in favor of a procedural motion to bring up the component of President Obama’s jobs bill, nine short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent who caucuses with Democrats, joined Republicans in opposition to the bill.

WASHINGTON — The Senate has approved must-do legislation to fund the day-to-day budgets of five Cabinet agencies, kick-starting long overdue work to add the details to budget limits agreed to by President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans this summer.

The bipartisan 69-30 vote came on a $182 billion bundle of three bills to fund programs including transportation, space exploration, housing subsidies and the FBI for the 2012 budget year that started a month ago.

Under the budget pact enacted in August, lawmakers have to cut about $7 billion — or less than 1 percent — from the more than $1 trillion budgeted last year for the daily operations of federal agencies. Such cuts are too small for tea party conservatives but would come in addition to savings from benefit programs like farm subsidies and Medicare expected from a deficit “supercommittee” later this month.

Senate Democrats on Friday rolled out the next phase in their push to pass individual parts of President Obama’s jobs bill: a $60 billion bill to invest in infrastructure projects around the country.

In a conference call less than 24 hours after the Senate blocked a jobs bill for teachers and first responders, Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters, “We’re going to give Senate Republicans another chance to do what’s right for the country.”

Washington (CNN) — Democrats and Republicans tried to force versions of a jobs bill through the Senate late Thursday, but both fell short of the 60 votes they would have needed to bring their proposals to the floor.

In a 50-50 vote, senators blocked a component of President Barack Obama’s jobs bill — $35 billion for states and localities to hire more teachers and first responders while preventing current ones from being laid off.

“For the second time in two weeks, every single Republican in the United States Senate has chosen to obstruct a bill that would create jobs and get our economy going again,” Obama said in a statement.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — If Senate Democrats have their way, millionaires and billionaires will pay more in taxes for President Obama’s jobs bill. How much?

Answer: $110,467 a year.

That’s the average additional amount they would owe in federal taxes starting in 2013, according to estimates released Thursday by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

How many households would be on the hook? 392,000, or 0.2%.

The proposal – which seems very unlikely to pass into law — would add a 5.6% surtax on modified adjusted gross income over $1 million.