Pelosi says House vote possible on extending tax cuts before election, despite Senate delay

Pelosi says tax cut vote possible before election

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn’t ruling out a vote to extend soon-to-expire tax cuts before lawmakers go home to campaign in the next week or two, even though Senate Democrats have abandoned plans to vote before the Nov. 2 election.

President Barack Obama has been pushing for a vote by year’s end to extend middle-class tax cuts. But House Democrats — much like Senate Democrats — are divided over whether to vote on the measure before the election.

The most sweeping tax cuts in a generation, enacted in 2001 and 2003, are due to expire in January. Republicans want to extend all the tax cuts. Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress want to extend them for individuals making less than $200,000 and married couples making less than $250,000.