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Tuesday, June 10, 2008
DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- June 10, 2008
Taxes -- House Vote on Unemployment Benefit Extension: The House is expected to vote later this week on H.R. 4934, a bill to extend unemployment insurance for workers who have exhausted their benefits by up to 13 weeks in every state as well as an additional 13 weeks in states with higher levels of unemployment. The bill's language defines "higher levels" as a seasonally adjusted 6 percent total unemployment rate or a 4 percent insured unemployment rate. The bill is expected to cost about $14 billion, and the funding levels are not offset in the bill, raising possible "pay-go" concerns. CRS Bill Summary.
Taxes -- On Deck in the Senate: the Extenders: This week, and perhaps as soon as this afternoon, legislation patching the alternative minimum tax and extending expired or expiring temporary tax measures will hit the Senate floor, following a key vote on a bill to tax "windfall profits" from energy companies. An aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said if senators do not invoke cloture on the energy bill, the vote on the extenders bill -- price-tag: $55 billion -- would occur right away. Tax News story.
Contracting -- Bush Orders Contractors to Vet Illegals: On June 6, President Bush issued an executive order requiring federal contractors to participate in "E-Verify" -- the Department of Homeland Security's electronic system for verifying the immigration status of their workers, greatly expanding the reach of the administration's crackdown on employers who hire illegal immigrants. About 69,000 employers are now enrolled in the program, which is voluntary, up from about 5,900 in 2005, out of an estimated 7.4 million employers in the United States. Executive Order 12989.
Posted by Dana Chasin
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