CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Nov. 4, 2011 – 1:41 p.m.
Latest Jobs Bill Finds Broad Appeal
By Ben Weyl, CQ Staff
The demands of two widely popular constituencies — veterans and small businesses — may provide reasons for Senate Democrats and Republicans to declare a brief truce in their long-running clash over how best to spur economic growth and promote employment.
The Senate is expected to clear a procedural hurdle Monday that could pave the way for the passage of legislation that provides tax relief to government contractors and assistance to jobless veterans.
Effectively, the evolving measure constitutes the third installment of a broad jobs package proposed by President Obama and rejected by Republicans. Two slices of the White House proposal have been considered by the Senate and fallen short of the 60 votes needed to break a GOP-led filibuster. This time, however, there appears to be enough bipartisan support for a scheduled cloture vote to succeed.
The Senate vote is slated for Monday evening, three days after the latest government employment report showed the jobless rate fell to 9 percent in October from 9.1 percent, though it has remained above 8 percent for 33 months. The chamber is debating whether to proceed to a House-passed bill (
The effort to repeal the withholding law (PL 109-222), which was enacted in 2006 and is scheduled to take effect in 2013, has bipartisan support and the backing of the Obama administration.
If cloture is invoked, Senate Democrats plan to offer an amendment that would provide tax credits to employers that hire unemployed veterans, a provision from Obama’s jobs package. The veterans’ measure might advance where previous efforts did not because of how Democrats propose to offset its cost.
Earlier parts of the jobs package were to be financed by a surtax on millionaires. The lost revenue from tax credits to those who hire veterans would be replaced by extending current fees on Veterans Affairs home loans and reducing payments to some VA service providers.
The Democrats’ amendment also will include provisions from a Republican-sponsored veterans’ employment and training bill that passed the House in October.
“We haven’t seen the bill, but if it is a bipartisan pay-for, that would certainly be a welcome change from pushing bills that are designed to fail,” a Senate GOP aide said. “That’s what we have been calling for — bipartisan bills that can be signed into law.”
Republican opposition to tax increases had doomed Democratic efforts to advance Obama’s $447 billion jobs proposal (
In choosing an offset that might win bipartisan favor for the veterans’ measure, Democrats appear to have a genuine hope of passing the bill, rather than putting Republicans in the position of defending wealthier taxpayers at the expense of popular programs or constituencies.
Moreover, Democrats have complied on this measure with the constitutional requirement that bills affecting revenue originate in the House. On prior pieces of Obama’s jobs plan, Democrats made no effort to comply with that requirement, knowing that Republicans were unlikely to allow the legislation to proceed.
Passage by Veterans Day
Latest Jobs Bill Finds Broad Appeal
The Senate’s most recent effort to debate a slice of Obama’s broad jobs plan ended on Nov. 3, when the chamber rejected a motion to proceed to a bill (
On Oct. 21, the chamber had voted against advancing the first separate measure (
The veterans’ amendment will include provisions sponsored by Senate Finance Chairman
The combined measure would offer a tax credit to companies that hire jobless veterans and would increase existing tax credits for companies that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities. The bill also would aim to give job training to all outgoing service members. Senate Democrats said they had negotiated some of these provisions, which echo Miller’s measure, with House Republicans.
Murray’s and Miller’s bills have garnered bipartisan support. The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee approved Murray’s bill by voice vote in June, while the House passed Miller’s bill by 418-6 last month.
The provision providing an offset to the cost of new tax credits was included in Murray’s committee-approved bill.
On a conference call with reporters to announce the measure, Sen.
Murray told reporters she believed the Senate would pass the bill by Nov. 11, which is Veterans Day, and she said she hoped the House would clear it soon after it returns from a weeklong recess.
Withholding Repeal
The underlying contractor-withholding language is not expected to face any hurdles in the Senate. The House voted 405-16 last month to repeal the controversial tax compliance measure, which was designed to ensure that contractors did not avoid paying taxes on their income.
Government agencies and small-business groups have fiercely opposed the withholding requirement, however. And lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say repealing the law would leave more cash in the hands of small-business owners.
The House bill would pay for the expected lost revenue with a change in last year’s health care law (PL 111-148, PL 111-152). It would rewrite the income formula used to calculate subsidies for the purchase of health insurance on state-run exchanges and to determine eligibility for Medicaid.
Despite opposition from House Democrats to altering the health care law, the administration endorsed the change and Senate Democrats are likely to go along.
Latest Jobs Bill Finds Broad Appeal
Senate Majority Leader
Reid’s alternative would preserve the 3 percent withholding requirement for those contractors that are delinquent on their taxes.
Niels Lesniewski contributed to this story.