Often after an election, we see a lame-duck session of Congress, with little to no action occurring before the new session convenes in January. This year, things might take a different turn.
Republicans appear to be on the verge of securing a majority in the House, while Democrats will maintain control of the Senate. This puts Democrats in the House under pressure to finish fiscal 2023 spending bills before the Republican majority takes office. With Democrat majority maintained in the Senate, lessening the urgency for a rush on judicial confirmations, we may see more immediate action on legislation there, too.Here’s our quick take on the top two legislative items we expect to be addressed before the end of the year.
Spending
This is, perhaps, the biggest item on the to-do list: Prevent a government shutdown. The current stopgap bill expires December 16, 2022. Legislators will have to consider everything from domestic spending to aid to Ukraine.
Will government spending be increased amid rising inflation? That’s the question that needs answered.
Tax breaks
Businesses are lobbying Congress to pass a package of corporate tax breaks that include:
- deductions for R&D costs
- A more generous deduction for interest expense write-offs
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Bonus depreciation (which allows businesses to write off their equipment purchases in a single year – stay tuned for more info from BGW on this).
In addition, Republicans are pushing for tax breaks for private equity, manufacturers, and businesses. In exchange, Democrats may push to expand the child tax credit to (now expired) 2021 levels.
In addition, defense policy, challenges to presidential election results, energy policy, the SAFE Banking Act (which would primarily prohibit federal banking regulators from penalizing banks and other depository institutions for providing banking services to legal cannabis businesses), the debt ceiling (raise it or don’t) could see some action this session. Tax breaks and government spending are those most likely to affect you and your business in the immediate future, however.
If you have any questions on these (or other) matters facing you and your business, please don’t hesitate to reach out.