On The Hill

Shutdown Averted…For Now  On Thursday (Sep. 26), the Senate passed a stopgap bill to fund the federal government through Nov. 21, setting up a holiday spending-showdown similar to last year’s. The FY 2020 Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill includes new funding levels for the Commerce Department, United States Trade Representative (USTR), and other agencies. Commerce will receive…

2017 Tax and Jobs Cuts Act (TCJA) Faces Renewed Criticism Democratic lawmakers are stepping up their criticism of international provisions of the TCJA, specifically the addition of a tax on Globally Intangible Low-Taxed Income (GILTI). The criticism stems from research suggesting this provision may already be pushing jobs offshore. However, data on the law’s economic…

Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) release of her drug pricing bill topped the healthcare headlines on Capitol Hill this week as it drew mixed reactions from both parties. In other news, the House Energy & Commerce Committee held a hearing on the pharmaceutical industry generally and the House passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) to extend federal…

On Thursday (Sep. 19), the House passed its stopgap spending measure to avert a shutdown by month’s end and fund the government just short of Thanksgiving. The funding-bill passed 301-123 but major partisan issues loom on the horizon, including funding for President Trump’s wall along the southern border. The bill now heads to the Senate…

Digital Tax Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced that officials will begin meeting with tech companies to discuss France’s digital services tax. The US and France hope to have an understanding on the issue in the next 90 days, and the Treasury Department aims to ensure businesses support whatever decision is made.[1] French Finance Minister Bruno…

Congress returned from its August recess this week right where it left off in July, as drug pricing took center stage. Speaker Pelosi’s long-anticipated drug-pricing plan had a publicly-released draft, while conversations continue surrounding the Grassley-Wyden bill that was passed by the Senate Finance Committee in late July. Elsewhere, the House Energy & Commerce Committee…

China Exempts Some Products after US Tariff Delay Chinese officials announced on Friday (Sep. 13) they would exclude imports of US soybeans, pork, and other farm goods from additional trade war tariffs, a move that could allow for purchases of agricultural products by the US. Earlier in the week, Chinese officials released a list of…

Congress returns this week (Sep. 9-13) from its August recess. Below, CHCG highlights the latest in China-US trade talks and the latest on the USMCA as the fall session begins.  China/US Announce Next Face-to-Face Talks China is determined to make progress to resolve the trade war with the United States when negotiators next meet face-to-face…

Opportunity Zones The New York Times ran a series of articles this week that heavily criticized the Opportunity Zone program. In one piece, authors Jesse Drucker and Eric Lipton argued that while Opportunity Zones were sold as a tool to encourage investment into areas in need, “instead, billions of untaxed investment profits are beginning to…

Capital Gains As the Administration continues to mull over the viability of indexing capital gains to inflation, they are getting a push from two conservative stalwarts. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Americans for Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist stated in an op-ed that they are supportive of executive action. Cruz and Norquist argue that there is…