Republican lawmakers escalated a year-end showdown with the White House, putting off a vote on extending a payroll tax holiday demanded by President Barack Obama until Tuesday.

Party leaders in the House of Representatives rejected a compromise hammered out by Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and promised to hold a vote on appointing negotiators to strike a new deal on the issue with senators.

But Democratic leader Harry Reid has refused to bring back the Senate from its Christmas and New Year vacation to take up any new measure from the House, leaving Congress sliding deeper into a standoff with no easy exit.