{"id":12024,"date":"2020-12-03T21:02:23","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T21:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/12\/03\/payroll-tax-deferral-bill-fails-unanimous-senate-hurdle\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:33:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:33:03","slug":"payroll-tax-deferral-bill-fails-unanimous-senate-hurdle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2020\/12\/03\/payroll-tax-deferral-bill-fails-unanimous-senate-hurdle\/","title":{"rendered":"Payroll tax deferral bill fails unanimous Senate hurdle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Legislation that would make President Donald Trump\u2019s payroll tax deferral plan optional for federal employees and members of the military received opposition on the Senate floor Dec. 3, preventing a proposed unanimous consent passage and pushing the potential for enactment timeline further back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Preventing Employees from Surprise Taxes Act<\/a> was originally introduced Oct. 9, shortly after the tax deferral was slated to go into effect, and received bicameral and bipartisan support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost private sector employers didn\u2019t participate and their employees and workers didn\u2019t want them to participate. Unfortunately, the one big exception to this have been members of our armed forces, the folks who every day stand guard to protect our country, and federal employees who do the nation\u2019s business with respect to important services they provide,\u201d said bill cosponsor Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd as the private sector has rejected this, we\u2019ve heard from thousands of federal employees who say, \u2018we don\u2019t want to participate either.\u2019 We\u2019ve heard from members of the armed forces that say, \u2018we don\u2019t want to be used as guinea pigs and required to participate.\u2019 So I want to be really clear that if we don\u2019t correct this, the damage will continue to be done, and these members of our armed forces and federal employees will be forced to pay even more back after the holidays.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t