U.S. Congress passes short-term payroll tax deal

　　WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The two chambers¹ of U.S. Congress on Friday passed a short-term payroll² tax and jobless benefits bill, which is now on its way to President Barack Obama's desk to be signed into law.

　　The bipartisan deal was approved by the Senate and the House respectively by unanimous consent, a time-saving agreement procedure instead of a roll call vote.

　　This stopgap bill capped a week-long partisan³ deadlock⁴, and would boost the paycheck of the average American family with an annual income of 50,000 U.S. dollars by about 20 dollars a week and prevent almost 2 million long-term unemployed⁵ people from losing jobless benefits averaging about 300 dollars per week.

　　The hard-won compromise took shape on Thursday. At a hastily arranged press conference on Thursday afternoon, House Speaker John Boehner said that he had reached a deal with Senate Majority Leader Harry⁶ Reid to extend the payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for two months, offering relief that the contentious⁷ fight could finally come to an end before Christmas.

　　The temporary tax cut and jobless insurance relief wrapped up a year of political bickering⁸ and dysfunction, culminating in the failure of the bipartisan debt reduction "super-committee" last month and a week-long deadlock on the issue of extending payroll tax cut and federal jobless benefits.

　　The bill was welcomed by the White House and Democrats⁹ who insisted on passing the short-term bill first before moving to a full-year agreement negotiation¹⁰.

　　The bill also represented a policy victory for Republicans, as it was not funded by higher income tax on the super-rich Americans as demanded by Democrats, and it included the language of speeding up decision on the construction of a Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline¹¹ proposed by Republicans, which Obama had previously¹² said he would veto.

　　The short-term bill also bought time for negotiators from both parties to discuss early next year how to finance a full-year extension.

　　Boehner earlier this week named eight GOP negotiators to work with Democrats on tax negotiation through the conference committee, sometimes referred as the compromise committee. Democratic Senate and House leaders on Friday also named their negotiators for the committee.

1 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

2 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

3 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

4 deadlock   

n.僵局，僵持

参考例句：

• The negotiations reached a deadlock after two hours.两小时后，谈判陷入了僵局。
• The employers and strikers are at a deadlock over the wage.雇主和罢工者在工资问题上相持不下。

5 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

6 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

7 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

8 bickering   

v.争吵( bicker的现在分词 )；口角；（水等）作潺潺声；闪烁

参考例句：

• The children are always bickering about something or other. 孩子们有事没事总是在争吵。
• The two children were always bickering with each other over small matters. 这两个孩子总是为些小事斗嘴。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

11 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

12 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。