House Ways and Means Chair Dave Camp, R-Mich., continued to push tax reform last week after the president offered only tepid support for reform in his State of the Union address and top Senate taxwriter Max Baucus, D-Mont., prepared to leave Congress.
Camp is still resisting pressure to act on the 55 tax "extender" provisions that expired at the end of 2013 in order to continue his efforts on tax reform. Camp pitched tax reform as a top priority during January's House Republican retreat and said he received a positive reception from the caucus. But he still has not scheduled a markup for a full tax reform bill, and it remains unclear whether House Republican leadership will support him moving forward.
On the Senate side, Baucus was approved by the Senate last week to become the next ambassador to China, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is expected to take his place as chair of the Finance Committee. Wyden has declined to discuss his plans for the committee until he is officially named committee chair.
State of the Union
The president pitched very few new tax proposals is his State of the Union address, asking for Congress to increase the earned income tax credit for single taxpayers and instructing the Treasury Department to create a new "myRA" pilot program that would allow employers to offer employees special simplified Roth IRAs of Treasury-backed securities.
The president mentioned support for tax reform only very briefly. The administration is clearly focused on other priorities, and the tax reform effort will continue to be led by Congress.
Debt limit
The Treasury Department recently informed Congress that the federal government will bump up against the federal debt limit before the end of the month. Republicans have said they will not agree to raise the limit unless the administration agrees to compromise on some of their other priorities. They have not yet made specific demands, and the administration and Democrats continue to maintain that they will not negotiate over the debt limit. A protracted fight over the issue is not expected so soon after last year's government shutdown, and tax changes appear unlikely to be included as part of any resolution.
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