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House and House Ag Committee action
Story Date: 2/16/2015
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Source: US HOUSE AG COMMITTEE, 2/13/14
On Wednesday, February 11, 2015, the House Agriculture Committee held a full committee hearing where USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack testified on the state of the rural economy. Members of the Committee urged him to serve as an advocate for farmers, ranchers and rural America. Topics ranged from protecting crop insurance to the EPA’s overreaching proposal on Waters of the U.S. to the west coast ports labor dispute.
On Thursday, February 11, 2015, the House Agriculture Committee held both a business meeting and full committee hearing. During the business meeting, the Committee sent its Budgets Views and Estimates Letter for FY16 to the House Budget Committee. In the letter, members urged Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price to take into account that with the passage of the Farm Bill the Agriculture Committee made a significant contribution to deficit reduction, which Congressional Budget Office estimated would save $16 billion over 10 years.
Also on Thursday morning, Committee members listened to the testimony of CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad and advised him to make sure the agency’s rules both protect end-users and ensure well-functioning financial markets. The Committee discussed new regulations in the swaps market, coordination of international regulations, and the need for global standards for data reporting.
House Highlights
On Wednesday, the House passed S.1, the Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act, but a vote of 270-152. The bill authorizes the construction, connection, operation, and maintenance of the Keystone XL pipeline. The bill also ensures private property protections in construction of the pipeline, and requires adequate consultation with Indian nations. Furthermore, the bill: establishes the sense of Congress that all forms of unrefined and unprocessed petroleum should be subject to the nominal per-barrel excise tax associated with the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund; requires the Secretary of Energy to coordinate and disseminate information on existing federal programs and assistance that may be used to help initiate, develop, and finance energy efficiency and retrofitting projects for schools; and includes a number of provisions to improve energy efficiency with respect to commercial buildings and grid-enabled water heaters.
On Thursday, the House passed H.R. 644, the America Gives More Act of 2015, by a vote of 279-137. H.R. 644 includes a package of four bills reported by the Ways and Means Committee that would improve and make permanent a number of tax rules governing charitable donations and charitable organizations. This package includes provisions that: 1) make permanent the enhanced deduction for contributions of food inventory by any type of business; 2) allow tax-free distributions from IRAs for charitable purposes; 3) allow the temporary deduction for contributions of conservation easements; and 4) amend the Internal Revenue Code to set the excise tax rate on net investment income of private foundations at 1 percent.
On Friday, the House passed H.R. 636, the America's Small Business Tax Relief Act of 2015, by a vote of 272-142. H.R. 636 permanently extends Code section 179 expensing at 2014 levels. This allows taxpayers to expense up to $500,000 of investments in new equipment and property per year, with the deduction phased out for investments exceeding $2,000,000 (with both amounts indexed for inflation). Moreover, H.R. 636: restores and makes permanent rules allowing computer software and certain investments in real property to qualify for section 179 expensing; allows investments in air conditioning and heating units to qualify for section 179 expensing; and makes permanent the five-year recognition period during which an S corporation is subject to an entity-level tax at the highest corporate rate on certain built-in gain of property that it held while operating a C corporation. Finally, the bill makes permanent the basis-adjustment rule for S corporation shareholders, providing consistent treatment of charitable contributions between S corporation shareholders and partners in a partnership.
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