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The months-long battle in Congress over extending a payroll tax break 鈥渃ertainly caused damage鈥� to Republicans because it 鈥渕uddled鈥� the differences between the parties over the issue, says House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R) of Wisconsin.

Early Thursday morning, House and Senate leaders agreed on a bipartisan deal that will extend, through the end of the year, a 2 percentage point reduction in 160 million workers鈥� Social Security taxes. The rate will stay at 4.2 percent of earnings, rather than revert to its usual 6.2 percent. Republicans in December had balked at a long-term extension of the tax break, but after intense criticism they agreed to back a short-term extension through February.

House Speaker John Boehner announced earlier this week that the House GOP leadership would no longer insist that the $100 billion cost of the tax break be paid for with spending cuts, because the Senate was unwilling to go along with the cuts. [Instead, the lost revenue for Social Security will be offset by money from the general fund, effectively adding to the federal deficit.聽

鈥淭he payroll tax deal, from a political perspective, certainly caused damage because it muddled the differences [between the parties]. It got us down into a skirmish where the differences got muddled, which is what I think the president loves,鈥� Representative Ryan said at a Monitor-hosted breakfast for reporters on Thursday.聽

The influential House Republican directed his fire at the Democratic-controlled Senate. 鈥淚t is a tough issue because they had to compromise,鈥� Ryan said. 鈥淚t is very frustrating that they, meaning the Senate, weren鈥檛 willing to cut $100 billion [from government spending] over 10 years.鈥�

The House Budget Committee chairman added: 鈥淭he idea of running against a dysfunctional, do-nothing Congress is ... part of [President Obama's] campaign strategy." Ryan charged: "In order for that to happen, the Senate has to be your enabler to make sure Congress does nothing.鈥�