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Reid urges bipartisan action on energy tax incentives |
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By David Matthews
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Posted: 07/08/08 05:55 PM [ET] |
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) urged Republicans Tuesday to work with the majority on a measure that would extend expiring tax provisions and energy tax incentives. “I strongly share your hope that the Senate can work out a bipartisan solution to extend these important tax incentives before the August recess,” Reid said in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), adding, “The fate of this legislation rests in your hands.” Despite the plea for bipartisanship, Reid took a swipe at his counterpart by saying that he hopes a bipartisan bill can be moved “despite your apparent decision to protect hedge fund operators over critical national priorities.” Reid said he saw a July 3 letter from McConnell as an attempt from the Senate GOP to “adhere to pay-as-you-go budget rules Democrats enacted at the beginning of the 110th Congress.” However, the Democrat chided the GOP for not accepting both the offsets in the bill that were passed by the House and the offsets proposed by a substitute bill drafted by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.). “Both the House-passed and Baucus substitute bills rely on the same two offsets — one ends the use by hedge fund managers of offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes and the other merely extends an existing delay in the implementation of interest allocation rules for multinational corporations,” Reid wrote. In a letter to Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), McConnell had questioned the bill’s fiscal responsibility and offered a compromise involving offsetting the lost tax revenue through spending cuts “or revenue raised from appropriate tax policy proposals.” |
