In December 2011, with a temporary payroll tax cut set to expire at the end of the month, the Senate considered the Middle Class Tax Cut Act of 2011, which would extend the tax cut for 113 million workers or families and fund the plan by a 3.25 percent surtax on incomes over $1 million. Brown voted against proceeding to take up the bill (i.e., voted against cloture that would end the filibuster). He announced that his opposition was to the surtax on high incomes.