Congressional Update

Congressional Update
From the office of Congressman Gary Miller, 42nd District

Congress Passes, President Signs Short-Term CR
On March 1, the House approved H.J. Res. 44, a continuing resolution (CR) to provide discretionary government funding for two weeks, until March 18, 2011. The President signed this short-term CR into law, containing $4.01 billion in discretionary spending cuts, on March 2. The bill eliminates eight government programs for which no funds were requested in the President’s budget as well as funding that was made available in fiscal year 2010 for earmarked programs and projects. Program eliminations in the bill total $1.24 billion in savings while savings from earmark eliminations total $2.7 billion.

Surface Transportation Extension
On March 2, the House approved H.R. 662, the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2011 by a vote of 421–4. The bill would extend the authority to appropriate funds from the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for federal highway and surface transportation programs through the remainder of FY 2011. Current authority to appropriate funds from the HTF under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) was most recently extended in December 2010 and is set to expire on March 4, 2011. H.R. 662 would set the total obligation limitation levels for transportation funding at $52.7 billion for FY 2011. The obligation authority consists of $42.46 billion for highway funding and $10.33 billion for mass transit funding. The level of obligation authority is the same as FY 2010. According to CBO, enacting the bill would result in contract authority totaling $580 billion over the FY 2011–FY 2021 period. The funding level authorized by the bill is identical to CBO’s current baseline projection; thus enacting H.R. 662 would not provide budget authority above amounts assumed under current law.

“1099 Repeal”
On March 3, the House approved legislation modifying a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ObamaCare”), which destroys jobs by expanding reporting requirements on payments made to corporations, rental property expense payments, and payments for property and other gross proceeds. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, repealing these expanded 1099 information reporting requirements for certain payments of more than $600 will reduce taxes by approximately $24.7 billion over 10 years. In addition, H.R. 4 would increase the maximum amount of subsidy overpayments that could be recaptured by the government under ObamaCare. This provision is estimated to reduce government spending by $24.8 billion over 10 years.

For the week beginning March 7:
Ending Wasteful Housing Assistance Programs – this week the House will consider legislation to end two ineffective and costly foreclosure mitigation programs. H.R. 836 would rescind all unobligated balances made available by the Democrat Dodd-Frank law for the $1 billion failed Emergency Homeowners Relief Program – a grant program that loses 98 cents of every dollar disbursed. The other bill set to be considered this week, H.R. 836 would end the FHA Short Refinance Program, reclaiming unspent TARP funds obligated for the initiative.

The Continuing Resolution:

  • Republicans’ goal is to cut spending, not to shut down the government.
  • Uncontrollable spending in Washington has caused a massive increase in government borrowing, and the national debt is now a record $14 trillion.
  • To help create jobs and save our children from national bankruptcy, we must stop spending money we don’t have.
  • We cannot afford to borrow 42 cents on the dollar and leave an enormous debt for our children and grandchildren to repay.
  • Our nation is in a spending-driven debt crisis that will induce job-destroying tax increases or higher interest rates.
  • On February 19, 2011, the House passed the largest spending cut in Congress since the end of World War II to move us toward ending our nation’s debt crisis and put America on the road to economic growth and prosperity and job creation.
  • House Republicans will continue working to keep the government running while cutting Democrats’ job-destroying spending.

The 1099 Repeal:

  • Under ObamaCare, starting in 2012, businesses will be required to file an IRS Form-1099 for any vendor with which they have more than $600 in yearly transactions.
  • This “1099 Provision” will create additional costs for employers, particularly small businesses, reducing productivity, adding to compliance costs, and further stifling economic growth.
  • House Republicans took up another part of our Pledge to America by voting to repeal this job-destroying mandate that ObamaCare imposed on our nation’s small businesses.
  • We remain committed to reducing government and eliminating burdensome and unnecessary regulations so that American families and businesses no longer have to downsize their budgets and payrolls.