Legislative Activity Senate to Vote on Highway Funding Bill This week, the Senate is expected to vote on H.R. 5021, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014, which recently passed the House by a vote of 367-55. The bill would patch and reauthorize the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) through May 2015 by using transfers … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House to Vote on Highway Funding Bill, Other Tax Measures This week, the House is expected to vote on H.R. 5021, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014. The bill, which was reported out of the Ways and Means Committee along party lines on July 10, would patch the Highway Trust Fund … 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 Reid, Paul Working on Repatriation Bill to Fund Transportation Infrastructure On June 10, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) indicated that they are working on legislation that would allow corporations to repatriate foreign earnings at lower rates, suggesting that this revenue could be used to fund improvements to … 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 Ways and Means Marks Up Six More Tax Bills, Expected to Continue Work on Extenders Through Summer On May 29, the House Ways and Means Committee held a markup of six bills (four extenders and two new provisions) seeking to make the following tax provisions permanent: (1) conservation contributions; (2) IRA distributions; (3) … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House to Vote on Legislation to Permanently Extend R&D Tax Credit During the week of May 5, the House of Representatives is set to vote on H.R. 4438, the “American Research and Competitiveness Act of 2014,” which is one of six bills considered during the House Ways and Means Committee’s markup of certain … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Ways and Means to Hold Markup of Six Extender Bills On Tuesday, April 29, the House Ways and Means Committee will hold a markup of six bills to permanently extend the business tax provisions discussed in the Committee’s hearing on April 8. The bills are: HR 4429, “To amend the Internal Revenue Code … 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
Tax Legislative Activity Congressman Says Tax Extenders Could be Handled this Spring Representative Richard Neal (D-MA), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, stated that if comprehensive reform stalls, the committee could take up tax extenders “sometime around February or March.” Tax extenders are provisions that are due to expire at the end … Continue Reading
Tax Legislative Activity Baucus Releases Second Proposal on Tax Administration On Wednesday, November 20, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) released the second in his series of staff discussion drafts to reform the nation’s tax code, this one on tax administration. In making the case for reforming the rules regarding tax administration, Chairman Baucus … Continue Reading
Tax Legislative Activity Senate Finance Chairman Announces Drafts to be in Legislative Language Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) announced last week that tax reform discussion drafts to be released in the coming weeks will be written in legislative language. This suggests that the drafts will be detailed, allowing for a full public preview … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity This week the Senate will take its turn to question the Administration about the bumpy healthcare.gov rollout, with two hearings on the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) health insurance exchanges. Senate Democrats’ concerns about the proposed fixes to the website continue to mount, as well as questions about the Administration’s promise that those who … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senators Submit Tax Reform Letters to Finance Committee; Promised 50 Year Secrecy on Tax Expenditure Submissions Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) asked their Senate colleagues on June 27 to provide proposals in response to a “blank-slate” approach (i.e., assuming elimination of all tax expenditures from … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Tax Writing Committee Continues Meetings on Reform The Senate Finance Committee has continued its series of closed-door committee meetings on tax reform, recently issuing an options paper addressing charitable and tax-exempt organizations. The most recent paper is available here. The Committee’s paper on charitable and tax-exempt organizations was the ninth topic covered … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Tax Writing Committee Meetings Continue The Senate Finance Committee has continued their series of closed-door Committee meetings on tax reform, recently issuing their latest Option Paper last Thursday, June 6 – this one on Types of Income and Business Entities. The closed-door meetings have facilitated discussion among Senators in an attempt to find … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Tax Writing Committee Meetings Continue The Senate Finance Committee has continued its series of closed-door committee meetings on tax reform, recently issuing their latest Option Paper on May 23 – this one on Economic Security. The closed-door meetings are intended to facilitate discussion among senators in an attempt to find where agreement on … Continue Reading
