The DISCLOSE bill – or to give it its full name, the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections bill is the congressional response to a Supreme Court decision that would have liberalised companies' ability to give money to election campaigns.
As we noted last month, it had a nasty anti-foreigner strand running through it. Thanks to excellent work by many trade associations in DC, such as the US Chamber and OFII, some of these have been removed. But the bill is still worrisome.
A policy conundrum that we're all likely to become more familiar with in the forthcoming years. What do to when you like what a bill is trying to do, but hate the measures that will be used to pay for it?
Congress is considering a small business/ tax extenders bill, which seeks to keep the momentum of the economic recovery. The bill will do some worthy things, including extending unemployment benefits and health insurance subsidies to laid-off workers; reauthorize the now-expired R&D tax credit; and provide direct funding for infrastructure bonds and summer jobs for young workers.
But that all comes with a hefty price tag of about $200 billion. The majority of that money will come from adding to the deficit – which is why Republicans are opposing it. But other legislators are just as worried about the sources of the funding for the $70bn that actually is paid for. Two measures in particular:
changing the taxation of carried interest. It is proposed that 75% of such earnings should be taxed as income, not capital gains – an effective 157% tax hike on private equity and real estate investors.
restricting US corporations; ability to use foreign tax credits, plus measures (as discussed last month) to 'close loopholes' used by non-US companies in their tax arrangements, e.g. by 'looking through' their levels of company ownership if their ultimate parent is headquarted in a country that doesn't have a tax treaty with the US.
The Democrats are determined to get this bill through. If they don't, they'll be in the nasty position of allowing unemployment benefits to run out whilst they're on holiday. But with concerns about the price of the measure rising in their own ranks, as well as unifying Republican opposition, they've got their work cut out to find enough votes to drive it forward.
Huge policy issue No 4. climate change. After a variety of missteps, senators Kerry and Lieberman (but not senator Graham, the Republican who'd been working with them) have released their version of a climate and energy bill.
The bill proposes cutting US carbon emissions by 17% by 2020, in line with the House version. It proposes setting a price on carbon emissions for large polluters such as coal-fired power plants, and offers incentives of up to $2bn a year for firms to develop so-called clean coal technologies, including methods to capture and store carbon emissions.
The Senators inserted sweeteners for the bill's potential opponents – including provisions aimed at boosting nuclear power and provisions for relaxing rules on offshore oil-drilling.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed a new rule on repetitive-strain injuries (RSI), which has the potential to expand into something burdensome and expensive.
Currently, OSHA rules require reporting of physical injuries acquired in the workplace, but RSIs aren't explicitly captured and monitored. This reflects the fact that, unlike accident-related injuries, it is almost impossible to tell when an RSI has been developed at work, or at home. OSHA is proposing, however, that companies be required to report and monitor "musculoskeletal disorders" along with other injuries.
The deadline for commenting on this draft rule is 15 March. Read the full proposal and for details on registering comments here.