WASHINGTON (AP) — Anxious to avoid a bruising election-year fight, negotiators on Capitol Hill worked into Wednesday night ironing out final details of an agreement to extend a cut in the payroll taxes paid by most Americans. The legislation also would renew jobless benefits for millions more.

The $150 billion measure taking shape represented a tactical retreat for Republicans, who were generally unenthusiastic about the legislation but eager to move beyond the issue. With campaign season starting, they don't want President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress to be able to claim the GOP was standing in the way of a middle-class tax cut.

In a rare burst of bipartisanship in a bitterly divided Congress, lawmakers hoped to officially unveil the measure Wednesday night so it could be voted on Friday in the House and then quickly pass the Senate.