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Tax Bill Reported Out by Senate Committee

By a party line vote of 12 to 11, the Senate Budget Committee reported out earlier this afternoon a legislative package that combines a tax bill and a measure that would open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. Although the bill was approved by the committee, whether it has enough votes to pass the full chamber at this point remains to be seen.

The full Senate is scheduled to take up the bill later this week, with a vote possible on Thursday.

Congress Returns to Face a Full Plate

Both chambers of Congress return to DC this week after their Thanksgiving recess last week and face a long “to-do” list.

The Senate is currently expected to bring up its version of a tax bill this week and there is still uncertainty about its fate.  President Trump and the Congressional Republicans have set out the December holiday period as their self-imposed deadline for signing into law tax reform legislation.  The House passed its version on a nearly partisan vote just before recessing for Thanksgiving, with 13 Republicans joining every Democrat in opposing the bill.

It still remains to be seen at this point whether there is enough Republican Senate support to get a bill passed.  No Democrats are currently expected to support the bill, and further complicating the process are the push to include a repeal of the Affordable Care Act individual health insurance mandate as well as the concerns of a handful of Senators about the impact of the bill on the federal debt.

Even though FY2018 started on October 1, none of the 12 individual funding bills have been signed into law and the government is currently operating under a temporary funding measure that expires at midnight, December 9.  Part of the delay in finalizing the final budget for FY2018 is due to the lack of an agreement on how much total funding is available for the year.  Negotiations are currently taking place between the senior leaders in both chambers and representatives from the Administration about the top line funding levels for the rest of this year and potentially for next year.  Another short-term temporary package to keep the government funded past the December 9 deadline will most likely be needed to buy more time for the negotiators.

At the same time, there are discussions underway, at least among Congressional Democrats, about trying to tie a legislative fix on DACA/Dreamers to the end-of-the-year funding package.  Several Democrats have been very vocal about their support for such a move.

Potentially complicating the “to-do” list further is the sexual harassment controversies that have surfaced recently in both chambers.

House Passes Tax Bill; Senate Action Awaits

Earlier this afternoon, the House passed H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, by a vote of 227 to 205. A total of 13 Republicans joined every Democrat in opposing the bill.

Even as the House was considering its bill on the floor, the Senate Finance Committee has been debating its version of the measure since Monday.  Late on Tuesday, the committee leadership decided to add a provision that would repeal the individual insurance mandate currently in law as part of the Affordable Care Act.  Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) announced his opposition to the bill yesterday, making the Republican leadership’s current vote margin on the bill even smaller.

The goal of the proponents of this effort is to get a bill signed into law by the holidays.

House Science Committee Chairman to Retire

In a statement released earlier today, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), Chairman of the House Science Committee, announced that he plans to retire at the end of this term.

Currently in his 16th term, he has been a key player in a number of areas of critical interest to academia and higher education.  Among other issues, as chair of the Science Committee, he has been involved with the recent debates around federal support for social and behavioral sciences as well as the intense discussions around earth and climate science.  In the past, including during his stint as the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he has been a critical player in immigration and visa-related issues.

House Agrees to Senate Budget and Tax Guidelines

Today, the House adopted the Senate-passed FY2018 budget resolution, H. Con. Res. 71, that would lay down the foundation for tax cuts.  While a budget resolution is traditionally used to set up the broad parameters for spending for a given fiscal year, this year’s resolution is being used as a vehicle to set up procedures to move changes to the tax code. The measure passed by a vote of 216-212 and allows allows for fast-track consideration of tax overhaul legislation, without being subject to filibuster in the Senate.

Assuming that the budget resolution would pass, the House leadership announced earlier this week a draft tax measure would be unveiled next week pending the approval of the budget in the House. With passage, the House Ways & Means Committee, which has jurisdiction on all revenue raisers, is on track to release their tax bill as early as November 1.  What the House’s reformed package will contain is still a moving target. There have been many issues raised with proposed cuts and offsets to such a measure — the most recent issue is the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction. Eliminating this deduction has been a big issue for Republicans in blue, high-tax states, such as New York and California, who want to preserve the deduction. Other recent issues include limiting the 401(k) pretax contributions, expanding the child care tax credit, and including Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) as an offset for tax cuts.

Stay tuned.