Government contractor tax repeal advances

The House of Representatives voted yesterday to repeal a tax on government contractors, easily advancing a small slice of President Barack Obama's jobs bill in a move hailed as rare bipartisan cooperation.

The bill repealing a not-yet-imposed 3 percent withholding tax passed overwhelmingly on a 405-16 vote. Obama proposed a further delay of the tax in his jobs bill, while Republicans pushed to repeal it all together. Just a handful of Democrats opposed the measure and the White House has said it supports the bill.

The vote capped a week of GOP efforts to promote the party's alternatives to the popular White House proposals.

At a news conference yesterday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), said he hoped the bipartisanship would extend to a longer list of bills that have passed the House but not been taken up by Democratic leaders in the Senate.

"Many of these bills passed the House with bipartisan support, 15 common-sense bills that'll help get our economy moving again," Boehner said.

Leaders branded the bills "The Forgotten Fifteen" in an effort to build pressure on the Senate and convince voters that the party has an alternate vision for creating jobs.

It's unclear the precise impact repealing the 3 percent tax on contractors would have on the economy. Republican supporters did not offer an estimate for job creation.