Is the GOP caving on the payroll tax cut? (J. Scott Applewhite - Associated Press) Until now, House Republicans have said that any extension of the payroll tax cut for the rest of the year - a key stimulus measure - had to be paid for, preferably with spending cuts elsewhere. Democrats have balked at that, countering that the tax cut should be offset with a surtax on millionaires, if at all. So who will blink? The GOP, it seems. But only sort of. As TPM's Brian Beutler reports, House Republicans are dropping their demand that the payroll tax cut be paid for - at least for now: "Because the president and Senate Democratic leaders have not allowed their conferees to support a responsible bipartisan agreement, today House Republicans will introduce a backup plan that would simply extend the payroll tax holiday for the remainder of the year while the conference negotiations continue regarding offsets, unemployment insurance, and the "doc fix,"" said GOP leaders in an official statement Monday afternoon. That doesn't put an end to the matter. House Republicans are saying they'll agree to let the payroll tax cut through for now (assuming they can scrap together the votes), but that talks over expanded unemployment insurance and paying for the whole package will continue. Dave Weigel notes that this changes the dynamic of the standoff in a subtle but important way. The payroll tax cut, after all, was wildly popular with the broader public - Republicans didn't want to be seen as obstructing its passage. Unemployment insurance, by contrast, is important to Democrats and important as stimulus (economists note that a failure to extend it could dent GDP by as much as 0.3 percentage points), but it's a considerably more obscure topic. Republicans seem to be sending a message that they're not going to stand in the way of a tax cut, but that Democrats will have to make concessions if they want the full stimulus package.