WASHINGTON (AP) — House and Senate leaders traded demands Wednesday but remained mired in a bitter holiday-season stalemate that is threatening 160 million workers with Jan. 1 tax increases and millions of the long-term unemployed with an end to their benefits.

In a letter, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urged Speaker John Boehner to bring House lawmakers back to Washington and approve a bipartisan measure the Senate approved overwhelmingly last weekend. That bill would extend the payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for two months, giving bargainers time to agree to a more expensive, yearlong measure.

"Because we have a responsibility to assure middle-class families that their taxes will not go up while we work out our differences, we must pass this immediate extension first," wrote Reid, D-Nev.

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