Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012

The Act: • Extends Medicare payments to doctors, giving seniors the advantage to keep their doctors • Extends the two percent Social Security payroll tax cut for one year (first enacted for 2011) • Extends unemployment benefits • Amendments were made to Title III of the Social Security Act mandating that states' unemployment compensation laws to require that the unemployment compensation claimant be both able and available to work and to verify that an individual is actively seeking work. • The Internal Revenue Code and the Social Security Act Title III now also require states to reduce their current unemployment to recover previous incidents of overpayment. • An extension of The Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act has been granted until December 31, 2012. The federal government pays for 100% of Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) via allocation of money to the states for dispersal. • Calls for an establishment of a national public safety broadband network to: • Expand high-speed wireless broadband • Improve communications interoperability among first responders • Changes the law concerning spectrum reallocation auctions and studies spectrum usage • Increases the 2012 deficit by $101.1 billion according to the CBO • Expands Federal Emergency Management Agency aid • Studies "Next Generation" 9-1-1 services and makes certain protections • Calls for federal drug testing for drug related employees • Eligibility for benefits is based upon "fact or cause" of unemployment. An individual is required to take a drug test if and only if the individual was fired from their most recent place of employment because of the use of controlled substances or the individual's only suitable work involves employment that regularly performs drug testing according to regulations issued by the Secretary of Labor. • Utilization of Amateur Radio in emergencies • Federal regulation of private land use restrictions on amateur antennas • Creation of the Short-time Compensation Program • Also known as the Layoff Prevention Act of 2012, this requires short-time compensation programs that allow employers to shorten a work week of an employee instead of laying them off. In addition, the Secretary of Labor must now distribute grants to states that enact these programs, develop legislation for use by states to develop, enact, and implement these programs, and update Congress and the President on their status. ==Legislative history==

This bill was sponsored by Representative Dave Camp (R) of Michigan on December 9, 2011, at which time it was called the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011. The original bill passed the House 234-193 on December 13, 2011, and the Senate unanimously on December 17, 2011. On December 23, 2011, the House and Senate passed H.R. 3765, also called the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011, and President Obama signed it the same day. The bill's effect was to extend lower payroll tax rates past December 31, 2011, when they would have expired. The Social Security tax rate would have increased from 4.2% to 6.2%, had the bill not passed. The rate would have applied to the first $110,100 in income. However, under the Senate version of the bill, the temporary tax cut applied to only one-sixth of that income amount, or $18,350, since the income would have to be earned in the first two months of 2012. Under the House version, persons earning far more than $110,100 a year would have received the full benefit in the two months. A conference committee resolved the differences between the House version and the Senate version on February 17, 2012, and the conference report was approved by the House and the Senate. ==References==