Posted on 04/22/2008 1:57:13 PM PDT by The_Republican
Free-Trade Agreements
Members of Congress aren't going to push here while the election's in play, especially since the presidential candidates, particularly the Democrats, have pledged to protect U.S. workers from foreign competition. Earlier this month, Congress tabled a Bush-negotiated free-trade deal with Colombia. Agreements with Korea and Panama are also on hold.
Renewable-Energy Tax Credits
Several times during the last year, some members of Congress have tried unsuccessfully to give tax breaks to producers of wind and solar energy, often while raising taxes on Big Oil. Few dispute the need for cleaner energy, but there's little chance anyone's going to take a run at raising taxes this year.
Climate Change
Even though President Bush now says he wants to curb greenhouse gases by 2025, the real momentum is building behind a bill proposed by Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn. The bill would impose caps on carbon emissions and allow companies to buy and sell emissions credits.
Financial Regulatory Overhaul
Last month, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson unveiled a sweeping reform of the nation's financial regulatory system. Among his ideas: Slashing the number of banking regulators and giving the Federal Reserve more power deal with financial crises.
Tax Reform
Election-year politics gives lawmakers the opportunity to test the waters with proposals they know have no chance of becoming law anytime soon. A good example: House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., last fall proposed a massive overhaul of the tax code. It would permanently repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax and lower the corporate marginal tax rate from 35% to 30.5%. One way to pay for it: increasing taxes on wealthy individuals and raising taxes on hedge fund and private equity profits.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Great summary of issues at hand by Forbes.
When Congress does nothing the people are winners. God Bless gridlock.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.