Update on the Lame-Duck Session of Congress from National Write Your Congressman ...

http://www.nwyc.com/
Vol. 14 No. 2-34
Monday, December 20, 2010

REVIEW

Congress is currently holding a lame-duck session which includes lawmakers who are not slated to continue to hold office.

Bush-era Tax Cuts: An $858 billion tax cut package that President Obama negotiated with Senate Republicans was signed by the president on Friday. The Senate passed the two-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts earlier last week and sent the package to the House. In the House, a coalition of moderate House Democrats and Republicans passed the compromise package by a vote of 277-148, thereby avoiding widespread tax increases next year. The bill will extend unemployment benefits for 13 months, including making them retroactive to Nov. 30, when they expired. The legislation will reinstate the estate tax through 2012 at the rate of 35 percent with a $5 million exemption, and it will include a payroll tax holiday that will reduce employee payroll taxes in 2011 by 2 percentage points, from a 6.2 percent rate to a 4.2 percent rate. Employees making $50,000 a year will save about $1000 in payroll taxes under the new plan. (H.R.4853)

Omnibus Spending Bill: Senate Democrats abandoned efforts to pass a $1.108 trillion dollar omnibus spending bill last week, giving in to pressure from GOP members who criticized the measure. The catch-all spending package is almost 2,000 pages long and is said to contain an estimated $8 billion in earmarks. Congress is expected to pass a short-term continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown. (H.R.3082)

Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START): Lawmakers in the Senate officially began debating the new arms control treaty with Russia last week. They could consider as many as 70 amendments, which makes a vote on the treaty during the lame duck session increasingly unlikely.

Anti-Spoofing: The House cleared a measure that would make it illegal to use so-called caller ID “spoofing” for fraudulent or other harmful purposes. It would set maximum civil and criminal fines at $10,000 for each violation or $30,000 daily for continuing violations. It goes next to the President’s desk to be signed into law. (S.30)

Food Safety Bill: The Senate passed a comprehensive food safety bill by voice vote on Sunday night, sending the measure back to the House to clear for the president's signature. (S.510)

Ethanol Provisions: A bloc of House Democrats is working to build support for changes to energy provisions included in the tax package the Senate recently passed. At least 30 Democrats signed a letter to party leaders calling for a reduction in ethanol subsidies and the elimination of incentives for coal-based transportation fuels in the package.

Defense Authorization: The House and Senate are completing a fiscal 2011 defense authorization bill stripped of its most controversial elements. A provision that would repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” provision is gone. Also missing is a Senate Armed Services provision that would have allowed privately funded abortions to be performed in military hospitals. The final version of the measure neither endorses nor prevents additional spending on an alternative engine for F-35 fighters — a program that has divided lawmakers and triggered a veto threat. (H.R.6523)

Fraudulent Sales: The House cleared legislation that would ban an online sales practice, known as “data pass,” in which merchants share consumer information with certain third-party companies. The bill targets online sales practices in which third-party companies try to sell shoppers additional items while they are completing online purchases from the initial merchants. It goes next to the President’s desk.(S.3386)

PREVIEW

The Week Ahead: Lawmakers in the Senate will continue to work on the START treaty and could consider a defense authorization measure. They blocked the DREAM Act, an immigration measure (H.R.5281) that would provide a path to citizenship for adult children of illegal immigrants. Click here to voice your opinion on the DREAM Act.

Senate lawmakers also passed a stand-alone bill that would repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law, the House also passed the measure. In the House, lawmakers are expected to pass a $725 billion stripped-down version of the fiscal 2011 defense authorization bill. The Senate could clear the bill for the President by unanimous consent soon thereafter. Go to http://www.nwyc.com/ to get the latest updates on these rapidly changing issues.

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To better help keep up on what is going on in Washington D.C., we have joined National Write Your Congressman. I first learned about nwyc.com back when I came back to Cedar Rapids from Omaha in 1988. My father was a member and suggested it to me. As a member, we get periodically, often every Monday, when Congress is in session, the R & P Report.

We are glad to see the so-called "Bush Tax Cuts" were extended. We would have preferred them to simply be made permanent, so that we could have moved on with future Federal public policy, rather than get stuck in the past arguments.

We want to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and Season's Greetings. May the work of the upcoming 112Th Congress in 2011-12 be one that builds on the foundational of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness that the Founding Fathers spelled out. May our Country at all levels promote Limited Government and idea of free markets. We need to encourage of the things we think, say and do:

• FIRST: Is it the TRUTH?
• SECOND: Is it FAIR to all concerned?
• THIRD: Will it build GOODWILL & BETTER FRIENDSHIP?
• FOURTH: Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

Robin Tucker