A slew of thorny issues awaits President Obama and Congress in the
lame-duck session, ranging from taxes to defense to Medicare.
Obama’s victory increases the chances that the lame duck will be productive, but it remains to be seen if the president and leaders on Capitol Hill can break the gridlock that has gripped the 112th Congress.
The following are 25 policy matters most likely to be addressed in the coming weeks.
Expiring Bush-era tax rates
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) quickly sought to define the terms of this debate, saying on election night that Obama’s victory is not a mandate to raise taxes. But Obama clearly has leverage, especially because the 2001 and 2003 tax reductions expire at the end of the year. Obama has vowed not to renew the tax reduction for families making more than $250,000 a year; the GOP wants all the reductions extended. Despite the rhetoric, a compromise at a $1 million threshold could be reached. Another possibility is extending the Bush rates temporarily in exchange for future tax revenue increases as a part of tax reform.
Sequester
Under the terms of the August 2011 debt-ceiling deal, $109 billion in across-the-board spending cuts is set to hit in January. Defense would take a $55 billion hit. Congress will look to replace at least this first slice of $1 trillion in 10-year cuts with targeted cuts to mandatory spending and possibly tax increases. A “grand bargain” replacing all the cuts and tax increases in the fiscal cliff is probably not entirely feasible in the lame duck, but a framework for future action in 2013 could materialize.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/266667-25-problems-now-facing-obama-congress
Obama’s victory increases the chances that the lame duck will be productive, but it remains to be seen if the president and leaders on Capitol Hill can break the gridlock that has gripped the 112th Congress.
The following are 25 policy matters most likely to be addressed in the coming weeks.
Expiring Bush-era tax rates
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) quickly sought to define the terms of this debate, saying on election night that Obama’s victory is not a mandate to raise taxes. But Obama clearly has leverage, especially because the 2001 and 2003 tax reductions expire at the end of the year. Obama has vowed not to renew the tax reduction for families making more than $250,000 a year; the GOP wants all the reductions extended. Despite the rhetoric, a compromise at a $1 million threshold could be reached. Another possibility is extending the Bush rates temporarily in exchange for future tax revenue increases as a part of tax reform.
Sequester
Under the terms of the August 2011 debt-ceiling deal, $109 billion in across-the-board spending cuts is set to hit in January. Defense would take a $55 billion hit. Congress will look to replace at least this first slice of $1 trillion in 10-year cuts with targeted cuts to mandatory spending and possibly tax increases. A “grand bargain” replacing all the cuts and tax increases in the fiscal cliff is probably not entirely feasible in the lame duck, but a framework for future action in 2013 could materialize.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/266667-25-problems-now-facing-obama-congress
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