Legislative Activity House Passes Highway Funding Bill, Senate Prepares to Vote on Legislation Last week, the House voted 367-55 to pass H.R. 5021, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014. The bill would patch and reauthorize the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) through May 2015 by using transfers from the General Fund and the Leaking Underground Storage … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Finance Committee Aims to Markup Highway Funding Bill While not yet noticed, the Senate Finance Committee is expected to markup a short-term highway funding bill before the week-long July 4 holiday recess; however, it is possible that the markup will slip until Congress returns the week of July 7. While disagreements remain … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Finance Committee Outlines Path Forward on Tax Reform On June 5, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) announced the Committee’s next steps with regard to comprehensive tax reform. As part of its efforts, the Committee will hold three hearings during June and July focused on: … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Tax Extenders Bill Stalls in Senate, Timing Now Unclear On May 15, the Senate was unable to garner the 60 votes needed to end debate on tax extenders legislation. The bill, which would provide a two-year extension for certain tax extenders that expired on January 1, stalled as a result of Republican concerns … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate to Take Up Temporary Tax Extenders Package; House Takes Different Approach During the week of May 12, the Senate is expected to take up the EXPIRE Act (S. 2260), which provides a two-year extension for certain tax extenders, which expired on January 1. The Senate’s approach for dealing with tax extenders differs … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Wyden, Camp to Take Next Steps on Tax Extenders On March 24, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) sent a memo to his Committee members regarding next steps on tax reform. In the memo, Chairman Camp suggests that the Committee will: (1) continue its efforts to educate Members and stakeholders; … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lew Before Taxwriting Committees on Presidents’ Budget Proposal Following last week’s release of the President’s FY 2015 Budget Proposal, Treasury Secretary Lew appeared before the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees to discuss the Administration’s proposal. In addition to addressing the Administration’s budget, Members discussed comprehensive tax reform, specifically focusing on … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Satellite Communications As a follow up to its hearing in mid-February, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a second hearing related to the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA), which expires in 2014 (see This Week’s Hearings below). The witness list has not yet been finalized, … Continue Reading