Congress passes payroll tax extension Boeing employees in Everett, Wash., wait for President Barack Obama to arrive and talk about his blueprint for the economy Feb. 17, 2012. WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- A bill extending the payroll tax cut through 2012 cleared Congress Friday and President Obama thanked members for "listening to the voices" of the people. The measure continues unemployment benefits but cuts back their duration, and it keeps Medicare payments to doctors at their current rate. The vote in the Senate was 60-36 and in the House 293-132, with some members of both parties opposing it, The Hill reported. Today, we took one important step in the short-term, Obama said at a Boeing plant in Everett, Wash. Congress did the right thing and voted to make sure that taxes won't go up on middle-class families at the end of this month. They also agreed to extend unemployment insurance for millions of Americans who are out there looking for a job, and I'm going to sign this bill right away. The president said he wanted "to thank Congress for listening to the voices of the American people." Obama said passing the bill "is just a start" because the country confronts "a set of economic challenges that existed even before this recession hit." Presidential spokesman Jay Carney, speaking to reporters on Air Force One, said the president did not call members of Congress to lobby for the bill Friday. "There was a good vote in the House today," Carney said. Among Republicans in the House, the vote was 146-91 for the bill. Democrats voted for it 147-41. The three Republican senators on the 20-member House-Senate conference committee that negotiated the compromise did not sign it. The deal calls for $93 billion projected to be lost to the fund to be fully replaced with money from the U.S. Treasury's general fund, lawmakers said.