Work On Omnibus Bill Continues

Congress gave itself an extension Friday, passing a five-day continuing resolution that will keep the government open until Dec. 16, when it hopes to pass a package that bundles the year-end spending bill with a host of other provisions.

The element of the package most relevant for readers of this blog is legislation that would make the tax incentives called “tax extenders” permanent — including the Section 179D deduction for energy-efficient building design.

According to Kelsey Snell in the Washington Post, the tax extenders provision is one of the sticking points for Democrats.

She quotes House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) as saying, “From our perspective on our side in the House of Representatives [the tax extender bill would] substantially exacerbate our deficit [and] will undermine our viability of getting tax reform done in the next session or in the years to come.” On Wednesday, Politico reported that representatives on both sides were concerned about the estimated $800 billion cost of making the extenders permanent, which may cause negotiators to choose the alternative of renewing them for two years.

Extenders are hardly the only hold-up — everything from lifting the ban on government-funded research into gun violence (subject of a Friday call between Speaker Paul Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi), to repealing the Affordable Care Act’s “Cadillac tax,” to lifting the oil export ban has come up as a negotiating point.

For more information on this swift-moving story, check out more from Politico here and here, The Washington Post, and our new favorite The Morning Consult

Concord is the nation’s leading 179D consulting firm.  Our government relations representatives provide industry leading service to our client firms, and are abreast of all currentl legislative developments taking place in Washington.  For more information on extenders in general, and the 179D deduction in particular contact Concord today. For immediate assistance contact Concord Managing Member Dennis J. Stilger, Jr. at dennis@concordlp.com or 888-897-5445 today.