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Eight Months, Eight Major Bipartisan Accomplishments
Finance Committee Back to Work in the 114th Congress
With 37 bipartisan bills advanced, the Finance Committee of the 114th Congress has worked to restore regular order, enhance the committee process and give members on both sides of the aisle more say in the legislative process.
The result: The Committee has pushed through more legislation in eight months than any single Congress since 1980.
In fact, more bills have been reported out of the Committee the first half of this year than the previous four Congresses combined. And they’ve been focused on a pro-growth agenda aimed to break down trade barriers, enhance job creation and promote American innovation – all on a bipartisan basis.
Elsewhere, the Committee has held rigorous oversight hearings, ranging from protecting taxpayers from filing scams to the theft of taxpayer information. The Committee has worked to promote savings for college, streamline the Medicare audit and appeals process, and has led the fight to protect vulnerable children in foster care as well as patients with chronic medical conditions.
Like the Senate as a whole, the Finance Committee is back to work for the American people.
Here’s a look at eight major accomplishments.
Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority (TPA)
- Advanced through the Finance Committee and the Senate with a full and open debate and amendment process, this trade tool, which empowers Congress and the American people and ensures high-standard trade agreements, was signed into law by President Obama.
Bipartisan Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Investigation
- After a two year investigation into the agency’s targeting of tax-exempt organizations, the Committee voted to report the investigation out with 6103 authority – a Finance Committee first.
Bipartisan Trade Preferences Legislation
- Advanced through the Finance Committee and the Senate with a full and open debate and amendment process, this mutually beneficial trade bill aimed to better facilitate U.S. trade with developing countries, including African nations and Haiti, was signed into law by President Obama.
- After months of full committee hearings, utilizing stakeholders’ and policy experts’ input, and analyzing existing tax law and examining policy trade-offs and available reform options, the Committee’s five bipartisan tax reform working groups produced reports, laying the foundation for comprehensive tax reform.
- Designed to address a variety of healthcare issues, from rural community hospital demonstrations to preventing interruptions in physical therapy, and from quality care for moms and babies to preventing and reducing improper Medicare and Medicaid expenditures, the Committee acted to advance the bipartisan package to the Senate floor.
- At a markup of common-sense tax bills with strong bipartisan support, the Finance Committee acted to advance a series of miscellaneous tax bills for the first time in the modern era of the Committee
- After beginning the new Congress with tax extenders having already expired, a first in 20 years, the Committee acted to on a bipartisan package aimed to assist hardworking families, individuals, and small businesses.
Bipartisan Hire More Heroes Act
- In the first markup on the 114th session, the Committee advanced a bill that incentivizes companies to hire more veterans by ensuring they are not counted against the 50 employee threshold under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The legislation was later signed into law by President Obama.
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