Recent Federal Activity Summary – Senate passed its version of the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”
As a valued member, Transportation for America is dedicated to providing you the latest information and developments around federal policy.
This weekend, the Senate passed its version of the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” by a vote of 51 – 49. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) was the only Republican to join all Democrats in opposing the bill. While deeply flawed, the Senate bill retains private activity bonds, which are a critical tool for financing investment in a variety of infrastructure projects.
The President has set an ambitious goal of signing tax reform legislation into law before Christmas. While it has been suggested that the House could simply vote to send the Senate bill to the President, indications are that the House would prefer to work out the differences between the two bills. Therefore, the next step is for the House and Senate to reconcile their differences through a Conference Committee. The House is expected to vote to proceed to conference on Monday evening, and formal negotiations are expected to begin immediately (informal negotiations have been ongoing).
The House version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act repeals private activity bonds and eliminates the ability of employers to deduct the cost of providing transit benefits to employees. These proposals undermine efforts to rebuild our infrastructure and make it difficult to envision how the Administration can achieve its stated goal of creating a new, $1 trillion infrastructure package.
Furthermore, both the House and Senate bills would dramatically increase the federal debt. This will force the Administration and Congress to make difficult choices, or trigger substantial cuts to important programs, including infrastructure. The Administration and Congress have proposed deep cuts to transportation programs in their FY18 budget and appropriations proposals. It is therefore likely that, once a deficit increasing tax bill is law, the Administration and Congress will use the required $150 billion in annual spending cuts to target investments in roadways, transit, and other infrastructure needs. The law requires Congress to pay for a budget-busting bill. Unfortunately, Congress will likely pay for these tax cuts by cutting programs that reinvest in our country, including critical transportation programs.
As the House and Senate head to conference, our top priority is to inform the public and Members of Congress that these bills will create, and green light, a torrent of cuts to transportation and infrastructure programs.
Please contact your Representative and Senator today to make sure they understand all that is at stake. Make sure they are talking to their leadership and letting them know how important it is that they not cut infrastructure programs!