by Congressional Quarterly

Senate Democratic leaders said Thursday they will try to move jobs-focused legislation to the floor next week that would likely include business tax breaks and the extension of numerous economic stimulus measures that are set to expire. Among the measures being eyed for the package are a new tax credit for business hiring, short-term extensions of federal unemployment insurance and COBRA health insurance subsidies for the unemployed, and an extension of the surface transportation authorization. Extensions of economic stimulus programs that give small businesses liberalized expensing rules and state and local governments assistance through a tax credit bond program also are in the mix. Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., said he would like to see an initial vote on a jobs package on Feb. 8 — likely a procedural vote — and Senate passage before members leave town for the Presidents Day recess on Feb. 12. But that depends on Republican cooperation, since Democrats will lose their filibuster-proof 60 votes later today when Republican Scott P. Brown is sworn in to fill out the term of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy , D-Mass. The move comes as Democrats face renewed pressure to address the still-struggling economy after their top agenda item, an overhaul of the health care system, was sidelined. Reid’s top lieutenant, Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill., challenged Republicans to agree to the move the initial package quickly. “This is a good faith offering on the Democratic side,” Durbin said. “Let’s put these on the floor and move them with a sense of urgency.” Whether Republicans will allow that to happen remains unclear, and no legislative language has been unveiled yet. Republican tax writers want assurances that separate House-passed estate tax legislation will be brought up in the Senate in a timely fashion, and that the tax provisions aimed at stimulating the economy will be kept separate from spending provisions being advocated by Democratic leaders.

Obama Urges Senate Democrats To 'Finish the Job'

February 3, 2009

   by Congressional Quarterly

President Obama sought to buck up edgy Senate Democrats Wednesday, urging them to focus less on the political noise of the moment and more on why they ran for office to begin with. He acknowledged that “these are tough times to hold public office,” but he urged his former colleagues to complete major initiatives that fell short of enactment last year. “We’ve got to finish the job on health care. We’ve got to finish the job on financial regulatory reform. We’ve got to finish the job, even though it’s hard,” he said. Obama reminded the Democrats that they still command an overwhelming majority — 59 seats — despite the election Jan. 19 of Massachusetts Republican Scott P. Brown, who vowed to provide the 41st GOP vote to sustain filibusters against the Democratic agenda. “All that’s changed in the last two weeks is that our party’s gone from having the largest majority in a generation to having the second-largest majority in a generation. We’ve got to remember that. We still have to lead,” Obama declared. The president joined Democrats at the Newseum for a question-and-answer session less than a week after he met with House Republicans in Baltimore during their similar issues retreat. Both sessions were televised live on C-SPAN. But Obama drew much softer questions from his fellow partisans than he did in Baltimore. And Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., made sure that the members of his caucus facing the toughest re-election battles this year were the first to ask questions. That list began with party-switcher Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, and included Michael Bennet of Colorado, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. Of the eight senators who asked questions, all but one — Ohio’s Sherrod Brown — are up for re-election in November. Democrats planned to spend the remainder of the day in closed-door strategy sessions as they plotted a path forward for their agenda.

Obama To Huddle With Senate Democrats on Stalled Agenda

February 2, 2009

   by Congressional Quarterly

President Obama is slated to speak to Senate Democrats on Wednesday during their annual issues retreat, as the party struggles to advance his agenda in a chamber where its majority is about to shrink. The president, who on Jan. 29 addressed House Republicans at their retreat in Baltimore, will head down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Newseum to address the Senate Democratic Caucus, which will drop from 60 members to 59 next week when Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown is sworn in. That will leave the Democrats one vote short of the number needed to surmount GOP filibusters, and make it much more difficult to pass core elements of Obama’s agenda — including proposals to promote job creation, which the president called his top priority during his State of the Union address on Jan. 27. Majority Leader Harry Reid ’s office was tight-lipped about details of the agenda for Wednesday, saying specifics would be available later in the day. Sen. Byron L. Dorgan , D-N.D., head of the Democratic Policy Committee, said the White House might allow Obama’s remarks to be open to the public and televised — as his appearance before the House Republican retreat was last week. A White House aide said further details would be available “when the logistical details of this event have been finalized with our hosts in the Senate.” Sen. Thomas R. Carper , D-Del., said he assumed “one of the principle issues” Senate Democrats and Obama will discuss is a path forward on their stalled health care overhaul bill, but that he did not necessarily expect the president to advocate a particular approach. “We’re going to let some discussions go forward — including tomorrow’s discussion in the caucus — some additional discussions, I suspect, between the Speaker, the [Senate majority] leader and the president in the weeks to come,” Carper said. “And while those discussions mature, or ripen, we’re going to focus on jobs.”

Obama Proposes One-Year Extension of Payroll Tax Credit

February 1, 2009

   by Congressional Quarterly

After years of debate about whether to extend the tax cuts launched by President Bush, the Obama administration now wants to extend a tax cut of its own. Among the major tax provisions in the administration’s fiscal 2011 budget is a one-year extension of the “Making Work Pay” tax credit, which was a critical part of President Obama’s campaign platform and the 2009 stimulus law. The payroll tax credit is set to lapse at the end of 2010; extending it for a year would cost $61.2 billion. Obama has touted the tax cut’s breadth, emphasizing at last week’s State of the Union that it helped 95 percent of working families. Many may not have noticed, however: The $400 per worker, up to certain income caps, is being delivered through reduced paycheck withholding, not as a lump sum, in an attempt to encourage people to spend it instead of saving it. Obama also is proposing to make permanent almost all of the tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003 by Bush, except for those that benefit individuals who make more than $200,000 and married couples who make more than $250,000. All of those tax cuts expire at the end of the year, and the debate over their fate is likely to consume a significant part of this year’s congressional agenda. Republicans and some Democrats are arguing that all of the tax cuts should get extended, in part because of the fragility of the economic recovery. Obama is again proposing to cap the value of itemized deductions claimed by taxpayers in the top tax brackets to the value those deductions would have for taxpayers in the 28 percent bracket. He had suggested that idea to pay for health care legislation in 2009, but nonprofit groups, which feared a fall off in tax-deductible contributions, and lawmakers pushed back against it. Obama’s budget proposes reinstating the estate tax at its 2009 levels of a $3.5 million per-person exemption and 45 percent top rate. He is also proposing to prevent the expansion of the alternative minimum tax, which would hit tens of millions of families starting with their 2010 tax returns unless Congress acts.

Obama Budget Will Assume Revenue From Climate Law

January 29, 2009

   by Congressional Quarterly

President Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget will project hundreds of billions of dollars in new federal revenue from a proposed comprehensive cap-and-trade climate law, according to Democratic aides — despite dimming prospects for enacting such legislation this year. Including cap-and-trade revenue in the new budget underscores Obama’s commitment to press ahead with climate legislation, which passed in the House last year but stalled in the Senate. The president reiterated his insistence that Congress address global warming in his State of the Union address. Click here to learn more! In the fiscal 2010 budget, the White House projected raising $646 billion in federal revenue over a decade through the sale of emissions allowances to polluters. Under the plan, emissions would be capped and polluters would need to hold government-issued allowances to release carbon dioxide and other gases that contribute to global warming. The allowances could then be bought and sold in the marketplace. That budget would have used about two-thirds of the revenue to fund payroll tax breaks through the administration’s “Making Work Pay” program. About $15 billion annually, for a total of $150 billion over a decade, would have been reserved for alternative energy research and development. Senate aides say they expect the fiscal 2011 budget to make different recommendations for spending any revenue from a climate law. But North Dakota Democrat Byron L. Dorgan , chairman of the Senate Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee, said any proposal to spend cap-and-trade revenue is probably dead on arrival. “If there’s an anticipation of cap-and-trade revenues, I think that anticipation probably is not going to result in success because my best estimate is that we’re not likely to do a cap-and-trade bill this year,” Dorgan said. Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry , D-Mass., who is leading efforts to write a bipartisan climate bill, said he objects to using cap-and-trade revenue for the “Making Work Pay” program and would rather see it go more directly toward easing the burden of any utility price increases on consumers and industry.