The Senate takes up a major bill, the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence In Technology, and Economic Strength Act of 2022 (shot-title America COMPETES Act) today.
This bill, H.R. 4521, passed the House on February 2nd. The plan is for the Senate to vote its own version and then go to conference with the House to write a final bill.
The House bill has no tax title, thus it isn’t suitable to enact an extension of the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC), expanded WOTC Credit, and our other recommendations unless the Senate adds tax provisions to the bill.
Our view is to continue urgent contacts with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden and other Senate leaders to enact ERTC, WOTC, and our full program to support financially stressed firms by drawing millions of low-wage, low-participation workers into employment.
Looking ahead, the Biden administration will soon send its Fiscal Year 2023 Budget of the Federal Government to the Hill. The budget is must-do legislation, and congressional leaders—who’ve just completed the FY 2022 budget—tell us they’ve already set in motion the process of preparing another Omnibus as soon as Congress determines the top-line numbers.
Also very soon, the Biden Administration plans to send Congress a bill to restore the expanded child credit and several other programs carried over from the failed BBB Act. We can expect Congressional Democrats to fold these latest Biden proposals into the FY 2023 Omnibus as its battle plan for the November election.
Thus our grassroots campaign will carry into the elections again; and around the corner, calendar 2023 will launch another fight to make the Work Opportunity Tax Credit permanent.
Dear Mr. President:
We appreciate your attention to the financial impact that energy issues, including the current geopolitical strife, existing and proposed policies, and the post-pandemic economic recovery are having on American’s daily lives. As you know, increased costs for motor fuels and home heating are among the most significant financial obligations our citizens face. Coupled with overall inflation, which is compounded by surging energy prices, Americans are paying more for all goods and services – from a gallon of milk to an Uber ride – as manufacturers and service providers try to recover their energy costs.
It’s important to remember that the U.S. led the world in oil and natural gas production with record highs in 2019, and the benefits of that status was shared by producing and non-producing states alike. The oil and natural gas industry comprised more than 11.3 million total jobs or 5.6 percent of total U.S. employment. This accounted for more than $892.7 billion in labor income, or 6.8 percent of our nation’s labor income.
The industry represents a significant part of our nation’s economic and fiscal future, and our energy independence hinges on sound policy that incentivizes resource development, modernizes energy infrastructure, and streamlines burdensome regulations.
Yet, despite the crisis in Ukraine, the inflation crippling our return to economic normalcy, and demand for petroleum products far outpacing supply, policymakers continue to hinder the oil and natural gas industry’s efforts to increase production and reestablish our nation’s energy independence, stability, and security.
To avoid further economic impact, policymakers and your administration could help ensure accessible, affordable, and reliable U.S. energy by doing the following:
Without hyperbole, the need for abundant, dependable, and affordable energy has never been more important for our nation and the world – now and in the future. The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects that natural gas could provide 34 percent of U.S. primary energy demand in 2050, and the world’s energy use in 2040 will still depend on oil and natural gas. The world needs energy leadership, and the U.S. is positioned to reassume the role.
We appreciate your consideration of the state of our nation’s energy security as well as its impact on the world’s energy needs. We look forward to collaborating with you and your administration on efforts to support policies that ensure long-term American energy leadership, security, and progress, including those that result in the continued operation of existing oil and natural gas pipelines, the construction of new pipelines, the resumption of consistent, credible federal lease sales, and the immediate preparation of a new five-year program to guide future offshore leasing.
Sincerely,
API (American Petroleum Institute), TIA, and other trade associations
At hearings of the full Senate Finance Committee, Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) renewed support of the Employee Retention Tax Credit for food banks and other non-profit organizations, and sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services demanding action to ease financial strain on thousands of independent pharmacies around the United States.
At the hearing on March 17th on charitable giving, Senator Wyden highlighted the operations of food banks during COVID-19, and said, “According to the Children’s Defense Fund, prior to the pandemic, more than 10 million American children were growing up in households where there wasn’t enough to eat. Black and Latino families were twice as likely to be short on food. . . . There are some important lessons this committee ought to consider going forward, because there are still millions and millions of people across the country who need support. . . . The CARES Act created an Employee Retention Tax Credit that helped save a lot of jobs nationwide, and it was also extended and expanded in 2021. The credit was designed with parity for nonprofits in mind, so that those nonprofits and their workers could benefit just like other employers.”
At the hearing on March 15th, Senator Wyden released a copy of a letter he sent to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) urging that government agency to take steps to ease the financial strain on small and independent pharmacies across the land, a large number of which collapsed during COVID-19 forcing many people living in rural areas to drive long hours to a pharmacy. Senator Wyden also asked for a study of the number of independent pharmacies lost during the last five years.
Independent pharmacies are an important component of the large number of employers using the Work Opportunity Tax Credit.