2008-01-10 - Laserfiche WebLink

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current surface transportation program approaches. (Leslie Wollack, wollack@nlc.org, 202.626.3029) State Children's Health Insurance Program Expansion Defeated Congress twice sent legislation to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to the President for signature, and twice he vetoed it.Both bills, which NLC supported, would increase funding substantially for this program and provide health insurance for 10 million currently uninsured children. The President's objections to both measures include: (1) the overall cost of the program, (2) eligibility standards, (3) access to insurance by children of undocumented workers, and (4) adult enrollment in the program. Before concluding the session, Congress extended the current authorization until March 2009, and increased funding slightly to ensure that all children currently eligible would continue to receive SCHIP benefits. (Neil Bomberg, bomberg@nlc.org, 202.626.3042) Terrorism Risk Insurance Act Extended On behalf of NLC-RISC, NLC lobbied in support of an extension of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). TRIA provides insurance coverage for terrorism events, which private policies widely exclude from coverage. The bill which became law, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007, H.R. 4299, includes a seven-year extension of the program and retains the current $100 million trigger for coverage. (Christina Fletcher Loftus, loftus@nlc.org, 202.626.3173) One-Year Alternative Minimum Tax Fix Approved After House and Senate wrangling over solutions to the alternative minimum tax (AMT), the House adopted the Senate version of a one year fix that would provide relief for up to 21 million taxpayers who would have otherwise been subject to this tax. House Democrats initially resisted the Senate's removal of revenue-raising offsets, but gave in when it became clear that the President would not support the House bill. When Congress considers retroactive relief for some expiring tax credits and deductions in 2008, it is expected that House Democrats will revive the AMT one-year patch debate and again propose offsets for this $50 billion tax-relief measure. (Christina Fletcher Loftus, loftus@nlc.org, 202.626.3173) Streamlined Sales Tax Proposals Introduced The Sales Tax Fairness and Simplification Act (S. 34/H.R. 3396) would grant states that have complied with the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA) the authority to require out-of-state sellers to collect sales tax on remote sales. While NLC supports simplification of the sales and use tax system, we have serious concerns that the bills require states to administer and collect local telecommunication taxes and fees. It is unlikely that these bills will gain momentum in 2008, as collection of sales taxes on Internet purchases would be viewed by many citizens as a tax increase, a perception that neither political party would want to be associated with during a presidential campaign year. (Christina Fletcher Loftus, loftus@nlc.org, 202.626.3173) Education Legislation Stalled in House and Senate Despite efforts by committee chairs in both the House and Senate to reauthorize No