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Senate poised to clear jobs bill for Obama

Companies that hire unemployed workers get a temporary payroll tax holiday under a bill headed for likely Senate passage Wednesday.

A positive vote would send the legislation to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature.

It would be the first of several election-year jobs bills promised by Democrats to be enacted into law, though there’s plenty of skepticism that the measure will do much to boost hiring.

The bill contains about $18 billion in tax breaks and a $20 billion infusion of cash into highway and transit programs. It would exempt businesses that hire the unemployed from paying the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax through December and give employers an additional $1,000 credit if new workers stay on the job a full year. Taxpayers would reimburse Social Security for the lost revenue.



Obama has promised to sign the measure into law.




The Senate vote also comes as a House panel is to vote on a new bill designed to help small businesses. That bill would exempt long-term investments in certain small businesses from capital gains taxes and would expand a program that subsidizes interest costs paid by local governments when they borrow for construction projects.

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