Advocacy News – November 18, 2021
For the past few weeks, there has been immense anticipation surrounding the U.S. House of Representative’s vote on the Democratic-led Build Back Better Act (BBBA). The vote has been repeatedly pushed off due to the vote on the Transportation and Infrastructure bill, as well as disagreements over additions or modifications to the bill. Once again, we await a future vote on the bill expected either this week or next. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce is monitoring developments closely. We will continue to keep you informed of impending votes, key changes, or new initiatives that harm Michigan’s businesses.
According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates, the “House Build Back Better Act includes roughly $2.4 trillion of spending and tax cuts along with about $2.2 trillion of offsets. However, the bill relies on several sunsets and expirations to keep the official cost down. If the plan’s temporary policies were made permanent, the Committee finds the cost would increase by as much as $2.5 trillion. As a result, the gross cost of the bill would more than double from $2.4 trillion to $4.9 trillion.”
Today, in response to the BBBA’s staggering costs and myriad provisions that unfairly impact businesses, the Michigan Chamber signed on to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce-led effort pushing back on the legislation and its onerous provisions on job providers and economy that will hurt our families and communities.
The Michigan Chamber endorsed letter is outlined below:
As we recover from the economic shock of the COVID pandemic, businesses across the nation face significant headwinds, including a worker shortage crisis, massive supply chain disruptions, and the highest inflation in more than a generation. We need Congress focused on helping address these problems. Unfortunately, the so-called “Build Back Better” reconciliation bill that is currently under consideration would add to rather than reduce the challenges confronting America’s employers.
Economic experts agree that the initial spending and transfer payments will add to near-term inflationary pressures, further harming American families and businesses who are already suffering from higher prices on everything from food to energy. The proposed tax increases, including a new corporate minimum tax on book income, a new tax on stock buybacks, and tax increases on U.S. business income earned abroad, will harm the recovery and hamstring America as we work to compete globally, especially with China. The pharmaceutical price controls could result in fewer drugs being introduced to the U.S. market in the coming decades. America may miss out on the next vaccine or treatment for the next pandemic because of these short-sighted policies. Anti-energy provisions in the bill would increase the cost of energy for all Americans and could lead to energy supply shortages and power outages while prices are already the highest in a decade, squander domestic energy security, and threaten the supply chain for clean energy technologies. The bill would also overturn nearly 90 years of labor law to tilt the playing field in favor of unions by threatening employers of all sizes with bankruptcy-inducing civil penalties that do not exist in current law. Finally, because of various budget gimmicks, including sunsetting new programs, in some cases after only one year, the true cost of the proposed bill is significantly higher than the nearly $2 trillion that is advertised.
We urge you to oppose the reconciliation bill as currently drafted and instead turn your attention to addressing the challenges holding back our economic recovery.
To read more about this effort, click here.
For more information or questions, please reach out to Leah Robinson at lrobinson@michamber.com.