The Washington Post | By Helen Dewar | April 9, 2004
The Senate yesterday broke an impasse that has been holding up a corporate tax bill aimed at ending a costly trade dispute with Europe, paving the way for a vote shortly on both the tax measure and several job-related initiatives sought by Democrats.
As recently as Wednesday, Democrats delayed action on the broadly supported tax measure to increase pressure on Republicans to allow votes on overtime pay, unemployment insurance, outsourcing of jobs and other issues on their agenda for this election year.
The agreement, hammered out by Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) just before the Senate left for a week-long Easter recess, provides for votes on all these issues as well as many others.
Republicans had complained that Democrats were playing political games with the tax bill by seeking a laundry list of politically inspired amendments. But they wound up acceding to the Democrats' major requests. According to Democrats, 80 amendments to the bill can be offered, 50 from Republicans and 30 from Democrats. Frist said efforts will be made to whittle down the list.
The bill provides tax breaks to U.S. manufacturers in place of export subsidies that have been ruled illegal under international trade rules by the World Trade Organization. As a result of the WTO ruling, the European Union last month began imposing tariffs on many U.S. exports. They began at 5 percent, rose to 6 percent this month and are to rise by another percentage point each month over the next year.
In an attempt to marshal more votes to force action on the measure earlier this week, Republicans added $13 billion in tax breaks for energy production and conservation that are part of broader energy legislation that has stalled in the Senate.
Frist's office indicated that the tax bill is second in line, after a bill to compensate asbestos victims, when the Senate returns April 19. The House has not yet acted on the tax measure.
One of the amendments pushed hardest by the Democrats -- and resisted most strongly by some Republicans -- would bar the Bush administration from implementing new federal rules that Democrats say could result in the denial of overtime pay to as many as 8 million white-collar workers. The proposal was approved earlier by the Senate but dropped in negotiations by the House.
Another Democratic initiative would extend the supplemental unemployment benefits that recently expired. Democrats also are proposing several amendments to curb the outsourcing of U.S. jobs to other countries to avoid U.S. taxes and other costs.
Another high-priority Democratic initiative would raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7 per hour over the next two years, but it has been designated as an amendment to welfare revamp legislation, which was not covered by yesterday's agreement.The Washington Post:
