CONGRESS MUST ACT.

The payroll tax cut, which affects 160 million Americans, expires at the end of this month. It has to be dealt with by the United States Congress before taxes went up for all those workers, who were toiling day and night to make ends meet for themselves and their families.

It (legislation) was a bone of contention last Summer, until it was given an extension of two months from December 31st, 2011; and it would seem that in an election year, anything was going to be harshly treated for political gains or points between the Republican majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate Democratic leadership.

The news this morning shows exactly that; that the hot item is being tossed from the House back to the Senate and vice versa.

"Negotiations have just begun and congressional leaders are already getting snippy over extending the payroll tax cut." (Politico.com, 02/04/12).

Besides the payroll tax cut, the unemployment insurance benefits measure, which was attached to the payroll tax cut plan would be affected, and that would make matters worse for more people, who were still looking for work. They would be caught between finding jobs and dealing with the issue of getting paid, all at the same time.

The political football that went on in Congress all year round in 2011 would be continued, while "the poor and the needy" suffered.

The nation's economy has been improving steadily, showing that President Barack Obama's policies were making a great deal of progress. The unemployment rate has gone down to 8.3%, with 230,000 private sector employment being created just last month.

All that was good news for Congress to take notice of, and do its part to effectively impact the lives of the American people, instead of jostling with themselves and failing to have anything accomplished in Washington D.C.

That was why the last session was dubbed "the do nothing Congress", whose actions were based on political ideologies alone, on both sides of the isle; with Republicans and Democrats vying for points that would help them in gaining or retaining the White House, respectively.

There was always the last minute agreement that would be worked out between the two factions, which only brought the nation close to a crisis in each case; something not at all healthy for the well being of America as a whole.

In other words, there should always be the boiling point on issues facing Congress to come first before some compromise could be reached. Usually the compromise was only "half baked" on arrival, which was a method to keep any issue dragging on and on.

The extension of the payroll tax cut is needed right then and now, to save Americans from unnecessary, emotional anxiety that has been going on for far long.

Congress must act without any political "holdups".