Cantor warns House to keep holiday schedules flexible

{mosads}The cut, which reduces the payroll tax from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent, is set to expire Jan. 1. President Obama has advocated deepening the cut to reduce the tax to 3.1 percent.

The president added Wednesday that he would delay his planned Christmas vacation to Hawaii if necessary.

“I’ll paraphrase it, but I’m pretty close,” Reid said after meeting with the president in the Oval Office. “He said, ‘Michelle and the girls are going to have a great time in Hawaii. They don’t need me there.’ ”

The payroll tax extension has been held up as Republicans balked at a plan to pay for the tax cut with a hike on income taxes for millionaires. Republican leadership in the House has been supportive of extending the cut, but has yet to rally enough support.