Payroll Tax Extension Measure Could be Voted on This Week: Internet Poker Inclusion?

A measure to extend payroll tax cuts through to the end of 2012 is expected to be voted on this week.   Those in the online poker sector are eyeing this bill as one that could contain an amendment legalizing Web poker in the U.S.

Last week, rumors swirled that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Arizona Republican outgoing Senator Jon Kyl had drafted a measure that would better clarify the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and make online poker exempt from the current law.  Both men were said to see the Payroll Tax Extension bill as a desired vehicle for their amendment. 

GOP leaders are looking to extend the 2-percentage-point cut in the payroll tax through the end of the year while adding the approximately $100 billion cost to the nation’s $15 trillion-plus debt instead of scrounging around the budget for ways to pay for it, according to the Associated Press. 

From the AP: 

In the Democratic-majority Senate, a top leader said the proposal was “a major step forward” even as other Democrats worried it could jeopardize efforts to renew unemployment benefits for millions of the long-term jobless and efforts to forestall a scheduled cut in fees to doctors who treat Medicare patients. Those proposals would remain in the hands of a House-Senate negotiating panel that’s looking for spending cuts to defray the deficit impact.

- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher