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117th Congress News
Republicans Applaud 2 Percent Cut to IRS Funding
Republican lawmakers are celebrating a $275 million reduction in the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) annual appropriations in the omnibus spending package that Congress will consider this week. The omnibus package includes all 12 annual appropriations bills Congress must pass and would fund the government through the remainder of fiscal 2023, Read more
Family & Business Tax Breaks Not Included in Spending Deal
Democratic and Republican lawmakers were negotiating a deal to include tax breaks for businesses in the omnibus spending bill this week in exchange for renewal of expanded child tax credits, but the deal ultimately did not get done. Congress passed an expanded child tax credit in 2021 that included $3,000 Read more
Legislation to Bolster Retirement Savings Included in Omnibus
A bipartisan group of lawmakers are celebrating the inclusion of landmark retirement savings legislation in the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that Congress will seek to pass before the end of the week. The retirement savings package, dubbed the SECURE Act 2.0, is the consolidation of three different bills worked Read more
Congress Unveils $1.7T Omnibus Spending Bill
Democratic and Republican negotiators on Tuesday released a $1.7 trillion bill to fund the federal government through most of 2023, and will need to pass it through both chambers by Friday to avert a potential shutdown. The massive omnibus bill is more than 4,000 pages long and would boost defense Read more
Congress Faces Dec. 16 Funding Deadline
Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations committees continue to put together FY 2023 spending bills but, with the current CR expiring Dec. 16, another stopgap funding measure appears likely to avoid a government shutdown. Bipartisan negotiations on an omnibus FY 2023 spending package have been stalled for months, with Read more
Lame-Duck Debt Ceiling Deal Unlikely
The White House has largely conceded that a bipartisan debt ceiling hike is unlikely to happen during the lame-duck session that runs through late December, setting the stage for a highly partisan confrontation with the House GOP majority next year. Senior administration officials also say they don’t have the 50 Read more
Democrats Continue to Press for End-Of-Year Tax Bill
A group of 51 Democratic lawmakers wrote to House leaders this week urging them to pass a year-end tax bill during the upcoming lame duck session that reinstates the enhanced Child Tax Credit. The New Democrat Coalition letter also calls for tax relief for research and development expenses for American Read more
GOP Lawmakers Continue to Question IRS Funding & Agenda
GOP lawmakers continue to signal that they will scrutinize the IRS’s funding and operational priorities should Republicans regain the House majority in the upcoming midterm elections. This week, Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO), a candidate for the House Ways and Means Committee gavel if Republicans flip the house, brought up the Read more
Travel Industry Welcomes Bill to Reduce Visa Wait Times
Travel industry leaders are applauding the introduction of legislation last week to address the long wait times for nonimmigrant visas to visit the United States that are hampering the economy. Last week, Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Susie Lee (D-NV) introduced the bipartisan Visitor Visa Wait Time Reduction Act Read more
GOP Senators Want More IRS Spending Oversight
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, this week urged the Treasury Department to detail its plans for how the IRS will spend $80 billion in new funding it received through the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law this summer. Congressional Republicans have railed against the Read more
Congress Prepping for Busy Lame-Duck Session
Congressional leaders are preparing for a post-election lame-duck session that includes some politically volatile agenda items that could keep lawmakers in Washington past Christmas. Among the must-pass bills in the lame duck is a government spending measure that will carry the government through the next fiscal year. With just hours Read more
Year-End Tax Bill May Depend on Election Outcome
Business and charitable interests continue to press lawmakers on the need for a year-end tax bill following the November midterm elections. There are some “must-pass” priorities that Congress must address no matter the outcome of the elections, such as agreement on FY2023 government spending, but a year-end tax bill could Read more
Congress Poised to Approve Stopgap Funding Bill
Congress is expected to pass a short-term government funding bill this week though details of the package are still pending. While a government shutdown appears unlikely, Senate leaders are still working to build support for including energy permitting reforms in the continuing resolution to fund the government, likely into mid-December. Read more
House GOP Issues Governing Framework
House Republicans last Friday released a framework for governing should the party flip the House in the upcoming November elections. The framework includes few specific policy proposals but offers a glimpse of House Republicans’ priorities during the last two years of President Biden’s current administration. Dubbed the “Commitment to America,” Read more
Senate Republicans Block Consideration of DISCLOSE Act
Senate Republicans last week blocked consideration of the DISCLOSE Act, which would require Super PACs and 501(c)(4) nonprofit political groups to disclose donors of $10,000 or more during an election cycle. In a procedural vote last Thursday, the Senate failed to advance the bill on a 49-49 vote. Congressional Democrats Read more
Congress Intent on Passing Stopgap Government Funding Bill
House and Senate leaders are working to pass a short-term funding patch to keep government agencies open past Sept. 30, when current funding expires. While a government shutdown appears unlikely, Senate leaders are still working to build support for including energy permitting reforms in the continuing resolution to fund the Read more
ASAE Submits Statement for Senate Banking Hearing on Insurance
ASAE submitted a written statement for a Senate Banking Committee hearing last week, urging Congress to establish a public-private pandemic risk insurance program. The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Sept. 8 was on “Current Issues in Insurance,” and the Pandemic Risk Insurance Act (PRIA) endorsed by Read more
Congress Closing In on Short-Term Government Funding Bill
Congress has just weeks to pass a short-term funding patch to keep government agencies open past Sept. 30, when current funding expires. Democratic and Republican leaders are downplaying the possibility of a government shutdown, but a bipartisan bill could be problematic if it includes certain energy permitting provisions tied to Read more
Appropriators Not Close on Government Funding for FY23
Government funding expires at the end of September and congressional appropriators are not particularly close to passing appropriations bills for fiscal year 2023. While House Appropriations Committee Democrats are working to schedule floor votes on some of the 12 annual spending bills in July, the Senate Appropriations Committee has been Read more
U.S. Travel Forecast Projects Short-Term Surge
Despite rising inflation, domestic leisure and business travel is projected to surge in the short term due to pent-up demand and consumer savings, according to U.S. Travel Association’s biannual forecast for travel through 2026. U.S. Travel estimates that $1.05 trillion will be spent on travel in the U.S. in 2022, Read more
ASAE Joins ECA in Supporting Role of Business Events
ASAE is participating in a week-long legislative action program this week organized by the Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance (ECA) to educate Congress on the vital role that face-to-face meetings and conferences play in expanding economies and helping communities in the U.S. recover from the devasting economic and employment impacts of Read more
Senate Finance Advances Retirement Package
The Senate Finance Committee advanced bipartisan retirement legislation this week, leaving lawmakers optimistic about getting a final bill through Congress this year. Senate Finance passed the Enhancing American Retirement Now (EARN) Act by a 28-0 vote. The EARN Act builds on the SECURE Act of 2019 by incentivizing more small Read more
Senate HELP Leaders Draft Retirement Savings Bill
Senate Health Education Labor & Pensions Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) and Ranking Member Richard Burr (R-NC) released a discussion draft yesterday of legislation to boost retirement savings. The draft would allow employers to offer pension-linked emergency savings accounts and allow retirement plans used by nonprofit organizations to participate in Read more
Travel Industry Testifies on Bills to Aid Recovery
The U.S. Travel Association testified this week before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee in support of two bills the travel industry believes are critical to ensuring the nation’s long-term competitiveness in the global travel market. The Visit America Act (H.R. 6965) would establish an Assistant Secretary for Travel and Read more
House Passes Bipartisan SECURE Act 2.0
The House overwhelmingly passed legislation Tuesday night to bolster retirement savings opportunities for workers, sending the bill on to the Senate. The legislation (H.R. 2954), called the “Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022” or “SECURE Act 2.0,” builds on the 2019 SECURE Act by further incentivizing Americans to save Read more
ASAE Testifies at House Roundtable on Pandemic Risk
On February 23, Republicans on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance, held a virtual roundtable on the future of pandemic risk. ASAE’s Senior Vice President of Public Policy Mary Kate Cunningham, CAE, testified on behalf of ASAE at the event. Read more
ASAE Applauds Bill to Restore ERTC
ASAE and a coalition of more than 70 associations and nonprofits applauded the introduction of legislation last week to restore the employee retention tax credit (ERTC) for the last three months of 2021. The ERTC was created by the CARES Act in 2020 to help companies and nonprofit organizations keep Read more
Travel Industry Asks for Federal Aid
More than 600 travel industry organizations, including ASAE, signed on to a letter urging lawmakers to take action on near-term federal policies to restore and grow the U.S. travel industry. The letter, organized by the U.S. Travel Association, points out that the COVID-19 pandemic has cost the travel industry over Read more
ASAE Endorses Pandemic Risk Insurance Act of 2021
ASAE endorsed a bill introduced yesterday by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) to create a federal backstop that will help cover losses resulting from a future pandemic or public health emergency. The Pandemic Risk Insurance Act of 2021 directs insurers to provide pandemic coverage for event cancellation losses – which is Read more
House Set to Vote on Infrastructure Bill
As of late this afternoon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was seemingly plowing ahead with a planned vote in the House today on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that progressives in her caucus have threatened to oppose. “We’re on a path to win the votes,” Pelosi told reporters earlier Read more
Senate Passes Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill
The Senate passed a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill on a 69-30 vote on Tuesday, teeing up a vote in the House that would deliver President Biden his first major bipartisan victory. Although 19 Republicans including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) joined Senate Democrats in advancing the bill, the Read more
Senate Plans to End Employee Retention Credit Early
The bipartisan infrastructure bill released last Sunday would end the employee retention tax credit (ERTC) that Congress created to help businesses retain employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. A provision in the legislative package would end the ERTC on Sept. 30 instead of the current Dec. 31 expiration date, raising an Read more
ASAE, AHP Coalition Support Bill to Strengthen AHPs
ASAE and the Coalition to Protect and Promote Association Health Plans voiced support for legislation introduced this week to expand healthcare options and lower costs for small businesses and their employees through AHPs. The “Association Health Plans Act of 2021” (H.R. 4547) was introduced yesterday by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI). Read more
ASAE, BCC Urge Congress to Mitigate Pandemic Risk
ASAE and other members of the Business Continuity Coalition (BCC) urged lawmakers in a Senate Banking subcommittee hearing today to develop a public/private program to mitigate event cancellation, business interruption and related losses from a future pandemic or other devastating event. The Senate Banking Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment Read more
ASAE Submits Workforce Comments to Senate HELP
ASAE submitted comments today to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions in support of legislation that would allow individuals across the country to use their 529 education savings plans to cover the costs of certain workforce training and credentialing programs. Senate HELP Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) Read more
Spanberger, Upton Introduce Bill to Expand 529 Savings Plans
A bipartisan group of lawmakers reintroduced legislation yesterday that would allow individuals across the country to use their 529 education savings plans to cover the costs of certain workforce training and credentialing programs. The Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act was introduced by Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Fred Upton Read more
Congress Passes $1.9T COVID Stimulus Package
Congress yesterday approved a sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package for the still-struggling U.S. economy, delivering President Biden his first significant legislative victory since taking office. The bill, titled the American Rescue Plan, includes another round of stimulus checks up to $1,400 for most Americans; extended, additional unemployment benefits for Read more
ASAE Supports Establishment of Senate D+I Office
ASAE this week joined a sign-on letter urging Senate leaders to make an institutional commitment to increasing congressional staff diversity by establishing a bipartisan Senate Diversity and Inclusion Office. The letter, organized by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, cites research conducted last year by the Joint Center Read more
