HAI reports Connecticut lawmakers voted last week to block a planned increase in the state’s gas tax that would have added up to 5 cents to the price of a gallon of gas.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed an extension of unemployment insurance last week.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) said he would seek to bring the bill to the Senate floor “soon” by unanimous consent, but will abandon it if Republicans object.  Reid intends to add the bill’s language to the war supplemental, which could also move to the Senate floor this week.

As reported earlier this week, the U.S. House of Representatives will soon vote on a supplemental spending bill to cover educational benefits for veterans.  Pay as you go provisions pushed by House “Blue Dogs” require the cost of those educational benefits be fully offset.  The pay-go provision being pushed by the Blue Dogs would impose a .47 percent surtax on individual incomes over $500,000 and on the married couples’ income over $1 million.

Split down party lines, the Senate Budget Committee Thursday, March 6, moved its FY09 budget plan to the floor after staving off Republican efforts to rewrite key elements of the process.  By a 12-10 margin, the 23-member panel voted to approve a $3 trillion blueprint that would set the spending and taxing policies for FY09.

The Bush Administration’s new and largely classified plan to ramp up security of government computer networks yielded more questions than answers last week at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing.  Members of Congress expressed doubts about leadership, privacy, and resource allocation for achieving real-time intrusion detection.

The House Homeland Security Committee continues to examine proposed legislation that would force chemical facilities to implement “inherently safer technologies” in their site security plans.  The legislation would make permanent Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations and would also require certain high-risk facilities to take a risk-based approach to making their facilities safer, such as switching to less dangerous chemicals.

The White House and Congressional Republicans have ramped up their public pressure demanding that House Democratic leaders allow a vote on the Senate-passed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).  Commercials on television and even President Bush in his news conference last week have repeatedly asserted that not having a new law in force is dangerous for the country.

HAI has learned President Bush's fiscal year 2009 (FY09) budget will not include the cost of fixing the growing alternative minimum tax (AMT) problem, proposing instead a one-year patch that will add only to this year's deficit, according to an administration official. The White House claims the budget can be balanced by 2012, a goal that would be harder to reach if the cost of a broader AMT fix is included.

HAI reports the head of the Financial Services Roundtable has once again renewed
his difficult bid to persuade Congress to pass legislation that would allow carriers to choose whether to continue to be regulated by states or opt for supervision by a new federal agency.

As Congress continues formulating the outline of an economic stimulus package, some business-related tax cuts have broad, bipartisan support among Democrats, particularly the moderate New Democrat and Blue Dog coalitions.  For instance, Blue Dog Congresswoman Melissa Bean, D-Illinois, will offer legislation aimed at business and job creation that Democratic leaders have expressed interest in placing in the package.

With both parties essentially set in considering one-time tax rebates as part of any economic stimulus plan, the focus has turned to their size and who is eligible -- and now how quickly they can get into the hands of consumers.  Some modest impact as a result of the 2001 tax rebates was felt, but Congressional Budget Office (CBO) officials told Senators yesterday, January 22 that checks might go out too late this year to help inject some life into the ailing economy.  That contention was based in part on difficulties the IRS would have in administering the rebates, as well as the Social Security Administration (SSA), which processes payroll tax contributions.

Offering a tax rebate to workers might not be on top of the list for much of K Street (where most Washington lobbyists call home); however, the idea has picked up steam with the nation's retail lobby, which argues that such checks could help provide a boost to the economy that is increasingly driven by consumer spending.  Increased retail sales could spur related wholesale and manufacturer activity.

Lawmakers pressed ahead Tuesday, January 22 with plans to kickstart the ailing U.S. economy, as the Federal Reserve Board stepped in with a big interest rate cut aimed at spurring growth and stabilizing a battered stock market.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, (D-California), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, (D-Nevada), and other leaders from both parties, met with President Bush at the White House to discuss a stimulus package, following up on a conference call last week.

After dominating the legislative agenda for most of last year, the Iraq war is taking a backseat to the economy at the start of the election year, but congressional leaders insist the war remains on the radar and cannot be ignored.

Congressional tax writers return in 2008 to tackle two of the same issues they struggled with in 2007: the alternative minimum tax (AMT) and expiring tax provisions.  And, as in 2007, the form and timing of significant tax legislation will be shaped by the pay-as-you-go budget rules that forced tough, divisive fights on revenue-raising offsets.

With higher oil and gasoline prices burdening voters and the economy, Democrats are girding for another effort to enact mandates and tax incentives aimed at promoting alternative energy sources.  Lawmakers who backed provisions dropped from broad energy legislation enacted in December plan a second push for a renewable-energy mandate on utilities and an extension of tax incentives for wind and solar power.

Two Senate committees may have cleared at least one of the hurdles holding up a four-year reauthorization bill covering the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  HAI has learned that according to a December 11 letter from the Senate Finance Committee to the Senate Appropriations Committee, Finance has agreed to drop a provision that authorizers object to when the bill (S 1300) moves to the Senate floor.

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass an energy bill on Tuesday, December 18 that had previously passed the House, but was scaled back in the Senate. 

Senate negotiators removed billions of dollars in tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency that were paid for mainly by repealing about $13 billion in incentives for oil and gas companies.

A vote this morning, December 13 on whether to bring an Energy bill to the Senate floor, which requires 60 votes, is too close to predict.  Senate leaders were hustling last night for every vote and hoping changes to a $22 billion tax-incentive package would keep the bill alive.

Republican leaders have now endorsed some spending above what the president requested in the hope of a turning point in Congress’ spending stalemate.  A massive year-end appropriations package is necessary to avoid a government shutdown, and Democrats are now considering $7 billion in emergency funding that would not count against budget caps.  Emergency spending for border security, wildfires, and droughts is supported by Republicans, but until exactly what the emergency spending entails is revealed, Republicans will withhold judgment on any spending package.

As Congress nears the end of the first session of the 110th Congress, several pieces of legislation dealing with expiring provisions of law appear unlikely to move as standalone bills. That makes these provisions candidates to hitch a ride on other, unrelated legislation that Congress is likely to clear before the end of the year. The most likely vehicles for thes