Yearly Archives: 2013
- CHN: Tax Reform: A Long Shot
Republicans have started to set their sights on enacting tax reform and on more spending cuts, by making these goals the price of raising the federal debt limit. On May 7, the Washington Post quoted House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) as saying, “The debt limit is the backstop…we need to get a downpayment on the debt; we need entitlement reform; we’re very serious about tax reform because we think that it is critical to economic growth and job creation.” In addition, interest in reforming the tax code has led to bi-partisan work in House and Senate committees to spell out options. Read More »
Posted in Tax Policy Comments Off - CHN: Choosing Which Federal Debts to Honor; House Passes Bill to Protect Only Bondholders, Social Security If Federal Borrowing Authority Expires
Should Congress make increases in the amount the federal government can borrow contingent on certain policy goals? When the debt limit was tangled up in disputes over deficit reduction in 2011, it did not go well. That “political brinksmanship,” as the credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s put it, jeopardized confidence that the full faith and credit of the U.S. government would remain sound, and resulted in downgrading the U.S. credit rating – a first. Read More »
Posted in Budget and Appropriations, Economy, Social Security Comments Off - CHN: New Legislation Gives Working Families a Pay Cut, Not Increased Flexibility
On Wednesday, May 8, the House passed the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013 (H.R. 1406), introduced by Representative Martha Roby (R-AL). The measure, passed by a vote of 223-204 along party lines, seeks to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (PL-75-718) to give private companies the ability to offer employees the choice of receiving regular paid time off instead of overtime pay for hours worked over the standard 40 hours per week. Currently, employees in blue-collar jobs get time and a half for overtime hours worked. Read More »
Posted in Labor and Employment, Poverty and Income Comments Off - CHN: High Hurdles on Path to Citizenship
On April 16, the bi-partisan Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, S. 744, was introduced in the Senate. This comprehensive overhaul of our nation’s immigration system contains a framework that includes a path to citizenship for many of the 11 million undocumented: 10 years in a newly created Registered Provisional Immigrant (RPI) status leading to Lawful Permanent Residence (LPR) status (a ‘green card’) and then at least 3 more years to citizenship. Read More »
Posted in Immigration, Poverty and Income Comments Off - CHN: Fear of Flying; Congress Fixes Waits in Airports but Lets the Poor Wait One More Year for Housing Vouchers
People don’t like to wait on long lines at airports. With news cameras panning the lines and Twitter campaigns launched, Congress hurriedly passed legislation to move funds around within the Federal Aviation Administration to end furloughs of air traffic controllers. The Senate passed the Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013 (S. 853) with no objection and no recorded vote on Thursday, April 25, and decamped to airports for a week-long recess. Read More »
Posted in Budget and Appropriations, Economy, Housing and Homelessness, Poverty and Income Comments Off - CHN: The President’s FY 2014 Budget: Important Initiatives Face Uphill Battle
President Obama released his FY 2014 budget on April 10 in a Rose Garden speech whose audience included many who strongly support one of the budget’s key initiatives: Preschool for All four-year olds and other investments in the development of the youngest children. The historic preschool initiative would be paid for by an increase in the tobacco tax. But the chasm of difference between the extreme cuts in the House budget and the Senate’s and President’s combination of revenues and cuts underscore the difficulty of agreeing upon worthy new initiatives. Read More »
- CHN: Immigration Bill Imminent in the Senate
The work of drafting a comprehensive immigration reform bill is completed in the Senate. The key drafters, the so-called “Gang of Eight” (Republicans Marco Rubio (FL), John McCain, Jeff Flake (AZ), and Lindsey Graham (SC) and Democrats Charles Schumer (NY), Robert Menendez (NJ), Michael Bennet (CO), and Richard Durbin (IL)) are poised to introduce legislation. Read More »
Posted in Immigration, Poverty and Income Comments Off - CHN: Expanded Mental Health Services May be Included in Gun Legislation
When President Obama spoke about the grieving families seeking legislation to curb gun violence in his State of the Union address, his message was: “they deserve a simple vote.” On April 11, the Senate took the first step with a bipartisan 68-31 vote to cut off debate after up to 30 hours. Read More »
Posted in Health, Social Services Comments Off - CHN: Funding for FY 2013 Pending in the House and Senate
Funding for annually appropriated programs has been operating under a stopgap Continuing Resolution (CR) since FY 2013 began on October 1, 2012. The CR is set to expire on March 27. On March 6, the House passed H.R. 933 to fund the programs for the remainder of FY 2013. The House incorporated detailed new spending bills for 2 of the 12 appropriations subcommittees in H.R. 933 – Defense and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs. Read More »
Posted in Budget and Appropriations Comments Off - CHN: Starkly Different House and Senate Budget Plans Offered for FY 2014
Both the House and Senate Budget Committees have approved Budget Resolutions outlining plans for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2013. The House Budget Committee plan balances the budget in ten years by slashing spending for domestic programs massively while protecting the Pentagon from cuts. At the same time, the House proposal reduces taxes on individuals and corporations by a whopping $5.7 trillion through FY 2023, with the benefits overwhelmingly going to those at the top, to be paid for by other unspecified tax increases. Read More »
Posted in Budget and Appropriations, Military Spending Comments Off
Click here to visit the HNR Archives
