Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/86182
Election AED Legislative Scorecard House Votes 1. The Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection & Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act (H.R. 4) The Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection & Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act (H.R. 4) was the first and only legislation enacted to successfully overturn a portion of the president's signature healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act. A provision in the law would have mandated companies to report every transaction with an outside vendor totaling more than $600 on an IRS Form 1099 beginning in 2012, creating a huge paperwork burden, particularly for small businesses. AED and our partners in the Small Business Coalition for Affordable Health Care made 1099 repeal a top priority and achieved a major victory when the House comfortably approved the measure, 314-112, and the Senate followed suit, 87-12. H.R. 4 became law on April 14, 2011. House Vote 112-1-162, March 3, 2011; Senate Vote 112-1-49, April 5, 2011 2. Clean Water Cooperative Feder- alism Act (H.R. 2018) The Obama administration's Environ- mental Protection Administration (EPA) proposed to greatly expand regulation in a number of areas traditionally under the purview of individual states. One of the more acute examples of this abuse of power was the EPA's use of the Clean Water Act (CWA) permitting process to block coal mines in Appalachia; howev- er, quarries, farmers, and commercial, residential, and infrastructure construc- tion projects also receive CWA scrutiny and are potentially affected by EPA's exploitation of its authority. Consequently, Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) and Ranking Member Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) introduced the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act (H.R. 2018). The legislation aims to restore the long-standing balance between federal and state partners in regulating the nation's waters; preserve the system of cooperative federalism established under CWA, which gives states primary responsibility for water pollution control; and prevent EPA from second-guessing or delaying a state's CWA permitting and water quality certi- fication decisions if the state's program was already sanctioned. AED partnered with the National Mining Association and led a lobbying coalition to help push the bill through the House, 239-194. However, the bill never received consideration in the Senate. House Vote 112-1-573, July 13, 2011. 3. Three Percent Withholding Tax Repeal (H.R. 674) The Tax Increase Prevention Recon- ciliation Act (TIPRA), enacted in 2006, included a provision requiring that, beginning in 2013, federal, state, and local governmental entities whose annual expenditures exceed $100 million withhold 3 percent of all payments made to any individual or company that has provided goods or services to the government. The onerous tax would have been based on revenues from government payments with no relationship to a company's taxable income, therefore impinging on cash flow needed for day-to-day operations and effectively resulting in equipment distributors making an interest-free loan to the U.S. Treasury. Consequently, repealing the withholding tax was one of AED's top priorities since its enactment. Fortunately, Congress killed this provision before it took effect. The House approved repeal legislation (H.R. 674), 405-16, followed shortly by the Senate, 95-1. H.R. 674 was signed into law on Nov. 21, 2011. House Vote 112-1-815, Oct. 27, 2011; Senate Vote 112-1-204, Nov. 10, 2011. 4. PIONEERS Act (H.R. 3408) Equipment distributors across the country have benefited from market activity surrounding domestic energy production. Energy development proved to be a hot political issue in the 112th Congress, as debates over the growing shale energy sector and the pending Keystone XL pipeline project, grabbed headlines. The House took on the challenge to encourage the growth of domestic energy production with the Protect- ing Investment in Oil Shale the Next Generation of Environmental, Energy, and Resources Security (PIONEERS) Act (H.R. 3408). The bill aimed to expand offshore energy production, open a small portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil and natural gas production, encourage the development of 1.5 trillion barrels of oil shale in the Rocky Mountain West by clarifying rules for oil shale produc- tion, and approve the Keystone project. The legislation would have created 1.2 million jobs and raised more than $4.3 billion in new federal revenues. The bill passed the House on Feb. 16, 2012, with bipartisan support, 237-187, but was never considered by the Senate. House Vote 112-2-71, Feb. 16, 2012. 5. Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012 (H.R. 4281) Unable to complete work on a new highway reauthorization bill, Congress once again found itself in a battle for a short-term extension of federal surface transportation programs. Despite the Senate passage of (continued on next page) October 2012 | Construction Equipment Distribution | www.cedmag.com | 31