Eager to avoid the blame for a tax hike in an election year, House Republicans announced Monday they will introduce a bill to extend an expiring 2 percent payroll tax cut until 2013, but without providing a way to cover its $95 billion cost.

The bill could come to the House floor as early as Wednesday, GOP leadership aides told The Washington Examiner, and it is expected to pass with broad support among the House Republican majority as well as many Democrats.