It looks like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) may bring a vote on the Senate “skinny” bill – the latest coronavirus relief bill. Why is it skinny? It has a slimmer price tag – and fewer benefits – than before. Some Quick History In May, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced a $3 trillion…
If you’ve been worried about what will happen to those poor folks in Congress once the tax increases hit, worry no more: they’re getting a raise! Yes, despite the fact that the current Congress is one of the most ineffectual in recent memory, President Obama signed an executive order boosting their pay after March 27….
They came, they saw, they concurred. Yes, I meant concurred. And here’s what they agreed on: they should do something about the budget. Sadly, I’m not kidding. At the meeting at the White House today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) managed to hammer out an understanding that…
President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will meet today at 3:00 p.m. at the White House to discuss the (lack of a) budget. Call me cynical (I prefer…
A little bit of history happened this week. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) has been tapped to chair the Senate Appropriations Committee. She will be the first woman ever to do so – pretty remarkable since the committee has been in place for nearly 150 years. The chair of the committee was previously Sen. Daniel Inouye…
The President and his staff are working this week. And yes, the Supremes are holding court this week, too (I’ll have more on that later). But Congress? They’re on vacation recess (apparently, there’s a distinction). This election-related recess – one of the longest in recent memory – got me thinking. Exactly how much are we,…
Whew, S corporation shareholders… You dodged a bullet last week when the bill to raise your taxes was voted down. You mean you didn’t know there was such a bill? Of course, you didn’t. That’s because Congress did what it does best: it snuck a controversial provision to boost taxes on certain S corporation shareholders…
It’s done. The Senate and the House both voted today to extend the payroll tax cuts for the rest of 2012. Also in the bill? An extension of those unemployment benefits and the so-called “doc fix” for Medicare. In the Senate, the bill needed at least 50% support to pass; it got 60%. H.R. 3630,…
Ooh, talk about efficiency. Here I was totally expecting the Senate to at least pretend to entertain extending the payroll tax cut until tomorrow. Instead, they rushed right into a “no” vote a day early. The charge was led by Senate Republicans despite statements by House Speaker (R-OH) in support of an extension. Boehner said…
Congress learned a lesson this week: it’s hard to talk job creation when you’re directly responsible for thousands of employees being out of work. In July, Congress failed to reach a compromise on the budget for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The immediate result was that airlines were not authorized to collect federal ticket taxes,…