Just before the House adjourned forits summer recess,members tried to pass a bill that would repeal the 1099 requirement that has been the buzz of many talk-show hosts over the past month or so. What it involves is this.
Hidden inside the 2,409-page Obama health-care bill is a real gem, if you like endless paperwork. This health-care gem is a paperwork tax provision that affects almost 40 million businesses, because it requires them to file a 1099 tax form on every vendor that sells them anything -- that is, anything valued atmore than $600.
This new requirement was designed to catch underreported income in businesses, from coffee vendors to lawn services -- businesses the bean counters decided could be worth almost $19 billionover the next 10 years.The offset for this bill was a tax increase for corporations. The House Republicans objected to the tax increase and thus the bill failed to pass under the suspension calendar, which requires a two-thirds vote. However, the House was successful in passing a few things beforemembers turned out the lights in the chamber late Friday evening.
Earlier in the week, the House passed the much-needed war-funding supplemental that pays for our war efforts in Iraqand Afghanistan.
This was not an easy task for Speaker Nancy Pelosi. You see, this bill has been around since late February 2010, and Secretary Gates has been screaming for the funds contained in this bill. The Senate dropped the House amendment, which contained $23 billionin goodies needed to get the bill passed through the House in June. Now the speaker has to try to pass this bill without her goodie bag of spending.
Speaker Pelosi was able to get the bill passed notwithstanding the usual objections from the move-on.org Democrats in the House, along with the conservative Democrats on spending called blue dogs, by throwing them a bone. The bone in this case was a vote on pulling all troops out of Pakistan. This vote allows them to return home andtell their base that they forced a vote on the troops in Pakistan. After the vote occurred on pulling troops out of Pakistan, the House passed the $60 billion Iraqand Afghanistan war funding bill bya vote of 308-110.
The House then began passing a couple of appropriations bills that fund the federal government. They were able to pass two of the12 needed.
They passed the Transportation/HUD appropriations bill, funding both of these federal departments as well as the Veterans Administration as overseas military construction. These two appropriations bills were considered easy lifts for the House side and fall very, very short of what most Congresses have achieved as far as passing the appropriations process by this time of the congressional session.
The House finished the week by debating and passing the offshore oil and gas industry whistle-blower protection bill and the CLEAR Act (Consolidated Land, Energy & Aquatic Resources Act). These two bills were ultimately merged for possible Senate consideration prior to their summer recess. They caused a bit of a House floor dust-up between the Gulf states' House members and environmentalists.
One of the contested provisions of the bill started out to be a bipartisan effort to get to the bottom of the cause of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In preparation for eventual congressional consideration of language to create a commission to study the oil spill, both the House and the Senate passed through their appropriate committees, language that creates this commission. The commission ismostly composed of oil industry experts who have served in various capacities within the offshore oil drilling industry.
Members of the House and Senate believed this commission was one of the least controversial legislative items that would be considered during this mostly controversial Congress. This commission turned out to be very controversial from the president's point of view. The White House objected to the bipartisan commission language and instead insisted that a commission be created that will consist of environmental activists with literally no experience in the industry. These commission members will be hand-picked by ourpresident and have experience in voicing their opinions about offshore drilling and favoring the current moratorium. Even though Gulf states' members of the House objected to having their commission language dumped on the speaker of the Houses cutting room floor, the bill passed by a vote of 209-193-1.
Colorado Democratic Congressman John Salazar, brother of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, was one of the 193 votes cast in opposition to the CLEAR act.
Industry trade associations began to voice their opposition over the weekend. Burt Adams, who is chairman of the National Ocean Industries Association, said this about the CLEAR act: Unlimited liability, unsubstantiated standards of financial responsibility, a $2 per-barrel tax on oil to fund unrelated programs, mandating a technical fix for blow-out preventers before knowing the cause of the accident, and the addition of myriad reviews and clearances -- all of these create an overall burden that may drive many independent producers out of the energy market. It is truly death by a thousand cuts. (NOIA is a national trade association representing all segments of the offshore industry and comprisesmore than 250 companies.)
The Senate will be in session this week to conduct a few more check the box votes, maybe even one procedural vote in relation to the CLEAR Act whistle-blower bill. However, most Hill watchers believe the only real progress the Senate will make by being in session an extra week is confirming the next Supreme Court justice in the nomination of Elena Kagan.
Stay tuned to read if the Senate does do more than just perform an exercise in appeasingits base prior tomembers turning out the lights in the Senate chamber for their summer break.
Elizabeth B. Letchworth is a retired, four-times-elected United States Senate Secretary for the Majority and Minority. She is the founder of GradeGov.com.
