[Update July 2010] – This bill – HR4213 – was passed by Congress and is expected to signed into law by the President. The bill, also known as the American Jobs and Closing Loopholes Act of 2010 originally contained a provision to extend unemployment benefits, as well as a number of expiring tax provisions, which passed through the House on May 28, 2010. The approved bill was revised to only contain an extension for unemployment benefits, in order to secure passage through Congress. Details of the unemployment benefits extension can be found here.
[Update] To appease Senate members concerned about the rising cost of this bill, Democrats have scaled back unemployment benefits and Medicare physician reimbursement measures. The revised jobs bill eliminates a $25 weekly supplement for the jobless that had been part of the last year’s stimulus act. Those currently receiving the supplement in their unemployment benefits check will continue to do so until they exhaust their extended benefits, or until the week of Dec. 7, whichever comes first. That cut will reduce the bill’s cost by $5.8 billion over the next decade.
The new version of the bill would also freeze a 21% cut to Medicare physician reimbursement rates only through November, instead of through 2011. This will reduce the bill’s size by $16.4 billion over 10 years. The legislation, which has been stuck in the Senate for more than a week, originally came in at about $140 billion and would have added about $78.7 billion to the deficit. The revised bill would raise the deficit by $55.1 billion.
Lawmakers are hoping to vote on the bill as early as Thursday. But if Democratic leaders can’t rustle up enough support, the vote could be pushed back to next week.
The grab-bag legislation still contain provisions to renew expired tax provisions, lengthens a small business lending program and adds to infrastructure investments. It also increases the tax on money paid to managers of hedge funds and investment partnerships to ordinary income levels instead of the much-lower capital gains rate. Under the revised bill introduced Wednesday, investment fund managers would have to treat 75% of this money as ordinary income, beginning in 2011.
Senate lawmakers also voted Wednesday to include a measure in the bill that would push back the deadline to close on home purchases and still qualify for a federal home buyer tax credit of up to $8,000. Homebuyers would have until September 30, instead of June 30, to complete the transaction.
I will continue to monitor this bill as it progresses through Congress for any further updates and encourage you to subscribe (free) via Email or RSS to get the latest news along with all the other stimulus payments in 2010 and 2011. You can read the full bill and get more details here.
The Committee on Ways and Means, the chief tax-writing committee in the House of Representatives, has introduced a new bill called the H.R. 4213 American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act. The “American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act” makes significant investments in American jobs and cuts taxes to help the nation continue along the path of economic recovery and job growth. The economy has added 573,000 jobs since December-this bill includes the following key provisions to continue that growth: