No Filibuster On Jobless Aid
Jobless aid expected to clear Senate Monday. W. Post: "The Senate voted Thursday to move forward with a bill that would restart federal unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless, allowing for retroactive payments to go to more than 2 million Americans whose benefits expired in late December. The bill is expected to be passed by a simple majority Monday ... [But] Boehner has said previously that he would not bring an unemployment extension bill to the House floor that does not include a job-creation provision."
Anti-stimulus Fed member resigns. NYT: "[Jeremy] Stein, who joined the Fed in 2012, needed to return within two years to preserve his tenured professorship ... He has argued that the Fed should temper its efforts to minimize unemployment because those policies encourage financial risk-taking ... His departure could create a fourth vacancy on the seven-member board. Two nominees, Stanley Fischer and Lael Brainard, are awaiting Senate confirmation. Mr. Obama has not announced a nominee for a third vacancy, created last month when Sarah Bloom Raskin became deputy Treasury secretary."
Debate over tolls holds up transportation jobs bill. NYT: "The pro-toll effort has the support of many state and local transportation officials. They argue that local officials, who can raise their own fuel and sales taxes, cannot come up with the trillions of dollars needed ... 'If ... there is no appetite to increase the gas tax, we have to have the ability to add tolls,' said former Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, co-chairman of the Building America’s Future Educational Fund ... The opponents, under an umbrella group called the Alliance for a Toll-Free Interstate, include the American Trucking Association, UPS, FedEx, McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts. The companies say that adding tolls would cause drivers to be taxed twice for driving on the same road — once in paying federal gasoline taxes and again by tolls."
Nascent Minimum Wage Deal Stalls
No Republicans joining Sen. Susan Collins on minimum wage. The Hill: "Centrist Republicans who teamed up with Collins to forge a bipartisan deal to extend unemployment benefits for five months say they are not interested in another compromise to boost the minimum wage ... Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who spearheaded the negotiations on unemployment assistance, said the minimum wage is an issue best left to the states ... Sen. Rob Portman (Ohio) ... said he would not be inclined to support a minimum wage compromise. 'I don’t think so. Ohio has a higher minimum wage actually indexed to inflation,' he said."
Party leaders not ready to compromise. Politico: "On the Democratic side, moderates like West Virginia’s Joe Manchin and those facing reelection like Mark Begich of Alaska are open to finding a middle ground with Republicans. But they are up against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his leadership team, who are refusing to entertain any wage increase below their party’s target of $10.10 per hour. A similar dynamic is unfolding on the GOP side where lawmakers like Bob Corker of Tennessee are willing to at least open debate on the plan. But he’s not finding a receptive audience from GOP leaders, who are signaling they are prepared to block the measure from even coming to the floor."
Corporate Tax Break Bill Advances
Senate Finance Committee passes 2-year package of tax breaks. Reuters: "In a sign of business as usual on Capitol Hill, the Senate Finance Committee backed tax breaks for auto-racing tracks, wind energy, multinational corporations, Hollywood, schoolteachers, Puerto Rican rum producers, college tuition and more."
"Offshore loophole got snuck back in" slams PIRG: "The Controlled Foreign Corporation (CFC) Look Through Rule lets multinational giants avoid U.S. taxes by booking profits to shell companies in tax havens like the Cayman Islands. Nixing this loophole would have saved taxpayers over $2 billion over the course of the next two years ... When big multinationals use offshore loopholes to dodge taxes, average taxpayers and small business owners are the ones to foot the bill..."
As did wind power tax credit. The Hill: "The [credit] wasn’t in the first draft unveiled Tuesday, but come Thursday morning, Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore) had restored it, drawing approval from renewable energy advocates ... [It] also survived an attempt by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) to strip the bill of all of its alternative energy provisions ... Toomey’s amendment was rejected on a 6-18 vote, garnering support from many Republicans, including Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)."
