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October 12, 2021

Congress Continues To Work On Infrastructure Bill, Budget Reconciliation

Congressional leaders made very little progress last week on plans to advance the bipartisan Senate $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, but Democratic leaders in the both the House and Senate acknowledged that they need to reduce the size of their $3.5 trillion budget and tax “human infrastructure” legislation.

Lawmakers are working to do that now.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said he wants lawmakers to vote on the “human infrastructure” bill by October 31, 2021 — the same day that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has targeted for a vote on the $1.2 trillion physical infrastructure plan.

While it is unclear what the reduction in the larger $3.5 trillion spending bill will mean for the tax increases in the legislation, MSCI continues to ask that its member company employees and leaders reach out to their representatives in Washington to ask them to oppose raising taxes on U.S. businesses and families.

Why? According to a new analysis from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, the tax increases that the House Ways and Means Committee has proposed would impose the largest gross tax increase on Americans since President Lyndon Johnson’s tax hike to fund the Vietnam War in 1968. For more information, see MSCI’s previous analyses of these tax increases herehere, and here.

What is the easiest way to make your voice heard about these tax proposals? The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has created a Tax Action Center that further explains the impact of these proposed taxes and allows individuals to take immediate action to send an email to lawmakers.

While opposing the tax increases is imperative, MSCI also asks that its members weigh in with support for the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which contains no tax increases and would provide important funding to rebuild the United States’ physical infrastructure. The Senate already has approved this legislation, but the House has delayed a vote several times.

Member company employees and leaders should continue to write to their lawmakers using this portal from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. As a reminder, the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill would:

  • Provide the largest investment in roads, bridges, and passenger rail in more than a half century and the largest federal investment in public transit, clean drinking water, and wastewater infrastructure in U.S. history;
  • Connect 14 million Americans to broadband;
  • Streamline the permitting process to prevent the federal government from blocking future infrastructure projects;
  • Invest roughly $100 billion in energy, resiliency, sustainability, and climate change programs; and
  • Provide incentives to increase private funding for infrastructure, including through public private partnerships.

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