According to Paul Suplizio, President of the WOTC Coalition, the US House of Representatives’ recently announced summer legislative schedule sends a clear message about the intentions of the House Republican Leadership – no tax extenders until after the election.
Tax Reform is officially dead for the year, as it’s not included in the summer legislative schedule announced today by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Instead, the only tax bill the House will take up this summer is extension of the Bush tax cuts.
WOTC and other tax extenders aren’t mentioned, which means House leaders are signaling they have no intention to consider them until after the election.
The ongoing delay in dealing with the tax extenders does not signal their death. Remember that in 2006, tax extenders including WOTC were not passed until December, more than 11 months after their expiration. Read more.
The following is published with permision.
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From: Paul Suplizio wotc@cox.net
To: ‘Paul Suplizio’ wotc@cox.net
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2012 11:20 PM
Subject: House Schedules Vote on Bush Tax Cuts in July
May 25, 2012
Tax Reform is officially dead for the year, as it’s not included in the summer legislative schedule announced today by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
Instead, the only tax bill the House will take up this summer is extension of the Bush tax cuts.
WOTC and other tax extenders aren’t mentioned, which means House leaders are signaling they have no intention to consider them until after the election.
(Post-election, several must-do tax measures must be acted on by year-end—Bush tax cuts, estate and payroll tax extension, alternative minimum tax relief, and others—WOTC and other tax extenders could be part of these bills.)
The economy isn’t percolating these days so pressure may build for a summer deal to extend the Bush tax cuts, as the unemployment situation favors another one-year extension. A Bush extension bill would provide an opportunity to attach WOTC and we are committed to making the attempt.
If the White House signals an interest in negotiations on Bush this summer, there’s a good chance Senate negotiators could bring WOTC and other extenders into the talks because Senators Reid and Baucus are committed to passing the extenders. We are told the White House is preparing an answer to Speaker Boehner on possible talks to help the economy.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has already characterized Leader Cantor’s proposal to extend the Bush cuts as “holding tax relief for middle class Americans hostage to tax cuts for the wealthy.” White House willingness to enter negotiations would be a sea-change.
Should negotiations to extend the Bush tax cuts occur during the next two months, we must be ready to overcome Republican resistance to including WOTC in any deal, so our current lobbying plan to engage House and Senate Republicans to support WOTC remains vital.
Should the Parties decline to negotiate, the House may pass an extension of Bush but the Senate won’t act on it. There are still the Highway and miscellaneous tariff bills, and perhaps others, that could serve as a vehicle for enacting WOTC and other extenders if we can get Senator McConnell and Senator Reid to agree to add an extenders amendment to one of those bills. (The only way bills pass in the Senate is when Reid and McConnell agree, as either Party can block the other.)
Both Reid and McConnell have made statements on the Senate floor supporting passage of the extenders, but the foot-dragging is on the Republican side where some senators want to prune the extenders list. To get action on WOTC, the best way to persuade Senator McConnell to move is to get a majority of Republican members of the Senate to urge him to delay no longer on passage of an extenders bill including WOTC.
PAUL E. SUPLIZIO
President, WOTC Coalition
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Note: Bold emphasis is in original.
