Senate Majority Leader Reid hinted earlier this week he would hold the Senate in session into the Memorial Day recess if thats what it takes to pass a $192 billion package of tax breaks physician payments and aid to the unemployed. H.R. 4213 the extenders and doc fix" legislation includes provisions ranging from money for a Hawaii sugar-cane cooperative to deductions for teachers out-of-pocket expenses.
While threats of that nature are commonplace the 433-page bill with disparate provisions was in danger of putting the lie to the term too big to fail.
House Ways & Means Chairman
Sander Levin said floor consideration could slip to Wednesday leaving little time for the Senate to act.
A new $11.2 billion payroll tax on S corporation shareholders and partnerships that provide services is raising the ire of small businesses fearful it will sweep in more than just wealthy attorneys and lobbyists.
And if any changes enter the picture during Senate floor debate the bill would have to come back to the House.
When asked if the votes would be there even for initial House passage
House Majority Whip Clyburn replied: I havent started counting yet.
The earliest a vote on the measure can occur in the Senate is Wednesday. Thus the earliest a cloture vote could occur on a House-passed extenders" package would be Friday with a vote on final passage on Saturday.
The situation had Democratic leaders laying tentative backup plans for a short-term extension of expiring provisions such as unemployment insurance COBRA health subsidies and preventing a 21 percent cut in Medicare physician payments aides said.
Democratic leaders have two main problems resulting from an unwieldy application of pay/go budget rules.
According to congressional scorekeepers about 70 of the bill is not offset either through emergency spending or flat-out pay/go exemptions. That does not sit well with budget hawks while the offsets in the bill are proving largely unpalatable to the business community including stalwart supporters of provisions
like the research and development credit such as IBM Corp.
Although our company has been a longtime supporter of the R&D tax credit that has enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress over many years the pending legislation would impose significant new tax increases that will completely overwhelm any positive economic effect of the R&D tax credit harming the U.S. economy just as recovery has begun IBM vice president for governmental programs Christopher Padilla wrote to House members Monday.
In fact concern among the high-tech community was widespread as the Information Technology Industry Council joined four broader business groups -- the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce National Association of Manufacturers Business Roundtable and National Foreign Trade Council -- in a joint letter opposing the international tax increases.
The bill contains about $14.5 billion in changes targeting what Democrats argue are loopholes in foreign tax credit law which enable multinationals to shield their overseas income from double-taxation from both the U.S. government and their host countries.
The largest a $6.7 billion proposal requiring companies to match up the income they repatriate with the foreign tax credits they receive has been vetted to some extent as part of President Obamas budget plan. But lobbyists say the other provisions were dropped from the sky into the bill without any prior discussion.
That was too much for the Chamber already chafing from about $30 billion in offsets targeting investment fund managers and small closely held services providers. The group wrote to lawmakers Monday that it would be noting lawmakers votes for their annual How They Voted scorecard which determines whether to support or oppose members re-election bids -- and with how much money.
For countless individuals these hard times arent an abstraction said National Womens Law Center co-president Nancy Duff Campbell. Time is of the essence. Critical assistance for American families is about to run out. We call on the House and Senate to pass this important bill before they leave for the Memorial Day recess.
