Legislative Activity House Tax Writers to Hold Retreat as Senator Hatch Hatches His Own Plan for Reform After being delayed due to winter weather, the House Ways and Means Committee is set to hold its retreat this week. As expected, the retreat will afford Republican tax-writers an opportunity to flesh out their agenda for the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity With Tax Extenders (Mostly) Behind Them, Tax-Writers Likely to Focus on International Tax Reform With Congress (somewhat unexpectedly) having enacted permanent tax extender legislation prior to adjourning the first session of the 114th Congress, tax-writers are now expected to move forward with their efforts on international tax reform – though the substance and … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Speaker Ryan’s Education Outlook Last Thursday, the House voted to confirm the current House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) as the 54th Speaker of the House. Rep. Ryan is a 16-year veteran of the House and received the support of all but nine of his Republican colleagues. As Speaker Ryan took … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Republicans May Select New Ways and Means Committee Chair With Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-OH) having now officially resigned from his post as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, this week it is expected that House Republicans will elect a new leader of the tax-writing committee. Presently, the race … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Debt Ceiling Looms Over House Speaker Elections According to the Treasury Department, the debt ceiling will be reached on November 3, leaving the House only five more legislative days to increase it. Complicating the issue, the floor vote for a new House Speaker is scheduled for Thursday, October 29, with Rep. Paul Ryan … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers To Vie For House Ways And Means Gavel With Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) expected to succeed Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) as Speaker of the House, some Republican lawmakers are eyeing the opening Rep. Ryan would leave behind at the helm of the House Committee on Ways and Means. Several congressmen are expected … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House to Take Up Short-Term Highway Extension as Lawmakers Work on Tax Title for Longer-Term Bill This week, House lawmakers are set to take up a short-term extension of the Highway Trust Fund, extending the program’s authorization through November 20 in hopes that the House and Senate can come together on a longer-term … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Transportation Bill Marked-Up, But Short-Term Extension Needed Facing the October 29 expiration of surface transportation programs, the House will vote this week on a bill to extend these programs for three weeks, through November 20, buying time for the House to finish work on its six-year bill. The extension legislation also includes … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Lawmakers Schedule Markup of Transportation Bill Without Revenue Provisions Last week, on Friday, October 16, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released a six-year, $325 billion highway funding bill (the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015); a markup of the legislation is scheduled for Thursday, October 22. Notably, while the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Releases Highway Bill, Markup Scheduled This Week On Friday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (T&I) released its long-awaited surface transportation reauthorization bill and scheduled the markup of the bill for this Thursday, October 22. The House provides six years of authorizations from the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity International Tax Reform-Highway Funding Negotiations Stall Following months of coordination between House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and senior Senate Finance Committee member Chuck Schumer (D-NY) regarding tying international tax reform to highway funding, aides for the two lawmakers last week announced that negotiations had stalled as a result of … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Tax Reform Still in Ryan’s Sights Despite Boehner’s Departure Last week, following the sudden announcement by House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) that he would be stepping down from Congress at the end of October, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and various other Committee members quickly confirmed that the Committee … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Tax-Writers May Punt Highway Bill…Again On July 29, just prior to adjourning, the House overwhelmingly approved a three-month compromise highway spending bill. This three-month extension, which also costs $8 billion and expires on October 29, was passed with hopes that both chambers will now have sufficient time to negotiate a compromise on tax … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Appropriations Process All But Over, CR Likely The appropriations process is almost certainly over and when Congress returns from the August recess there will be just ten legislative days before federal funding runs out, hardly enough time to negotiate a budget deal or an omnibus spending bill. As anticipated, Congress will likely pass … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Finance Committee Tax Reform Working Groups Release Reports Last week, on Tuesday, July 8, the Senate Finance Committee released the long-awaited reports from its five bipartisan Tax Reform Working Groups, which were formed to “spur congressional comprehensive tax reform efforts in the 114th Congress.” The groups focused on: (1) Individual Income Tax; … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Appropriations Process Stalls as Democrats Look to Force a Budget Deal The Senate appropriations process has stalled, and it is unclear how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will proceed this week. Last Thursday, Senate Democrats followed through with their announced strategy to stop appropriations bills from reaching the Senate floor by … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Finance Committee Working Groups to Submit Tax Reform Proposals After having been provided additional time to finalize their proposals for consideration by the full Committee, the Senate Finance Committee Tax Reform Working Groups are due to submit their proposals by this Friday, June 26. The Working Group that appears to have made … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Concerned with BEPS, International Tax Reform Moves Forward Last week, G-7 leaders (i.e., finance ministers and central bank governors from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) met in Germany to renew their commitment to coming together on a “feasible” proposal to address base erosion and profit … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House to Vote on Repealing Medical Device Tax House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced last week that the House plans to take up legislation to eliminate the excise tax on medical devices during the week of June 15. The Protect Medical Innovation Act (H.R. 160), which was introduced by Representative Erik Paulsen … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Finding a Way to Fund the Nation’s Highways…The Debate Continues Prior to adjourning for the Memorial Day recess, lawmakers passed legislation that extended highway funding authority for a two-month period through July 31. Now, with Congress set to return to Washington this week, lawmakers will yet again be tasked within finding a way to … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Joins House in Appropriations Effort Senate Appropriators begin work on their FY 2016 spending bills this week, with subcommittee markups scheduled Tuesday for the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and Energy-Water appropriations bills. Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) has not publicly revealed how he apportions the mandated topline discretionary funding level of $1.07 trillion … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House, Senate Set to Move on Short-Term Highway Funding Extension As tax-writers continue their push for tax reform this Congress, the focus this week will shift to providing a short-term extension of funding for the Highway Trust Fund. In the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Environmental and Public Works Committee … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Democrats Continue to Push for a Budget Deal The President and Democrats in the House and Senate continue to pressure Republicans for a budget deal to replace the sequester’s strict spending limits. Most House Democrats voted against the two sequester-level appropriations bills that were recently considered on the House floor, President Obama has … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House and Senate Nearing Budget Conference Agreement House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) included possible consideration of the budget conference report on this week’s House schedule, and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Michael Enzi (R-WY) said he is optimistic the House and Senate budget conferees can come to an agreement this week, noting he … Continue Reading
