Lame Duck Session: Budget, Bush Era Tax Cuts Should Be Focus
By Phillip Williams on November 28, 2010, 1:55 pm Posted in Finance News
The Lame Duck session of congress has gone back to Washington after its Thanksgiving session. It is unsure what items on its agenda it will actually get passed, but it is certain that the key issues, save one, will ignore the result of the elections while the senators try to finish completing their agenda, against the will of the American people. Key items include immigration reform, the Bush tax cuts, and relatively minor issues, such as resolving the end of the Clinton-era Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. On the agenda will also include the removal of earmarks.
Why Earmarks Do Not Matter to the Lame Duck Session
The earmarks for 2010 have already been resolved. Earmarks are money set aside for given purposes, usually that do not matter much to most people even if they knew about them. Incoming Republican members of the congress have vowed to say no to earmarks. The outgoing congress has made no such pledge.
Of greater importance, especially to federal government employees, is making sure the budget for 2011 gets passed. Congress will put this item at the top of its agenda, as it is important to fund federal agencies and the government for the next year.
What About the Bush-Era Tax Cuts
The Bush-era tax cuts will be the second most important issue after the budget cuts. The cuts are expected to expire at the end of this year and raising taxes may slow down the economic recovery which seemed to start, oddly, about the time it was clear Democrats would lose control of the house. Political infighting has caused the delay to slow, rather than just agreeing on an emergency plan of action to keep the economic recovery moving or at least to keep it from going south again after a nearly 3-year long recession.
Related posts:
- The Lame Duck Session It Should Produce Something of Substance
- Unemployment Extension: Are Tax Cuts Taking Precedence
- Bush Tax Cuts: Democrats May Block Tax Cut Extension
- Election Results: Dream Act, Unemployment And Tier V, Social Security
- Lame Ducks In A Row – The Bush Tax Cuts We Will Borrow To Make
