The National Association of Manufacturers this afternoon sent a “Key Vote” letter to the U.S. Senators supporting an amendment by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Sen. McConnell has proposed the Energy Tax Limitation Amendment to S. 493, the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act, being debated on the Senate floor now.

Excerpt from the NAM letter:

At a time when our economy is attempting to recover from the most severe recession since the 1930s, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, with no guidance from Congress, will establish disincentives for the long-term investments necessary to grow jobs and expedite economic recovery. The McConnell Amendment seeks to ensure a healthy and productive discussion in Congress on harmonizing our nation’s energy, environmental and economic needs before EPA regulates carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from stationary sources, including manufacturing facilities.

Manufacturers support a comprehensive, federal climate policy within a framework that will cause no economic harm while granting sufficient time to deploy low-carbon technologies, such as carbon capture and sequestration, renewable energy and a renewed and large-scale deployment of nuclear power plants.

Sen. McConnell explained the amendment in floor remarks earlier today. (Text and video) A separate news release from his office presented the remarks of 15 Senate Democrats criticizing the EPA’s overreach.

Key vote letters are developed by a committee made up of manufacturers of all sizes and are used to rate a members’ support for manufacturing during a session of Congress.

Also this afternoon, the full House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 34-19 to report out H.R. 910, the Energy Tax Prevention Act, which has the same language as the McConnell amendment. In the portion of the committee discussion we watched online, Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) spoke about the damaging impact EPA regulation of greenhouse gases would have on manufacturing and manufacturing jobs. We thank him.

P.S. Three Democrats joined the House Republicans on the committee in voting for the bill: Reps. Barrow (GA), Matheson (UT), and Ross (AR).

NAM Key Vote letters get results!

The vote to pass H.R. 4, the Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act, was 314-112. Seventy-six Democrats joined the unanimous Republican caucus in voting to repeal the anti-business IRS 1099 filing requirement passed in last year’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The “affordable” part was a canard, it appears.

The National Association of Manufacturers this afternoon sent a “Key Vote” letter to the U.S. House of Representatives calling for specific votes on three amendments to H.R. 1, the continuing resolution, that would promote a jobs- and growth-oriented energy policy. The premise:

Manufacturers support energy policies that: 1) expand domestic supplies; and 2) lower costs for U.S. consumers and for manufacturers, which use one-third of our nation’s energy. Access to competitively priced energy helps U.S. companies compete in the global economy and preserves high-paying jobs here at home.

The NAM urges a vote for two amendments:

• OCS Exploration. Amendment 251 sponsored by Congressman Steve Scalise (R-LA-1) would prevent delays in approving plans/permits for energy exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).The Department of Interior’s (DOI) permitting requirements have effectively brought drilling activities in the Gulf of Mexico to a halt, creating a de facto moratorium.
• Coal Ash Regulations. Amendment 217 sponsored by Congressman David McKinley (R-WV-1) would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from moving forward with plans that would classify coal combustion residuals (CCRs) or coal ash as a hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Regulating coal ash as a hazardous waste will trigger an increase in disposal expenses for coal-fired power plants and other coal ash generators, likely resulting in higher energy costs for manufacturers.

The NAM urges a no vote on one amendment:

Punitive Taxes on U.S. Energy Producers. Amendment 213 sponsored by Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA-7) would impose roughly $50 billion in tax increases on major oil and gas companies by: repealing the Section 199 domestic manufacturing tax credit for these companies; prohibiting their use of last-in, first-out (LIFO) accounting methods; changing the tax treatment of dual capacity taxpayers; and more.

The NAM strongly opposes discriminatory tax policies, especially when they single out a particular type of business or industry sector. Tax increases on the oil and gas industry will lead to increased fuel costs for American manufacturers and consumers. Raising the price of fuel for manufacturers and the broader business community will further stifle their ability to expand and create jobs.

NAM “key votes” are used to determine a member of Congress’ record on manufacturing-related legislation.

The National Association of Manufacturers on Tuesday sent a “Key Vote” letter to U.S. Senators urging support for the amendment by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to the FAA reauthorization bill that would repeal the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The NAM argues:

The vast majority of American manufacturers, including 97 percent of NAM member companies, voluntarily offer health benefits not only to attract a skilled workforce, but because they believe it is the right thing to do for their employees. Our members support proposals that reduce soaring health costs, improve the efficiency of the current system and enhance the quality of care.

Conversely, manufacturers oppose proposals that make it more expensive or more difficult for employers to offer health benefits. Legislation enacted in 2010 – specifically the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act – will drive up manufacturers’ health care costs and force many companies to consider abandoning the generous benefits they currently offer.

We remain adamantly opposed to the new laws’ employer mandates, industry-specific fees, Medicare hospital insurance tax increases, reporting requirements, excise taxes and limits on Flexible Spending Accounts – all of which will place more burdens on America’s job creators. Our nation can and must do much better at finding a health care solution, and the 2010 legislation should be repealed.

Key Votes are identified by a committee of representative manufacturers from small and large companies, and are used by the NAM to determine a member of Congress’ voting record on issues critical to the manufacturing economy.

Sen. McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, announced his amendment on the floor Tuesday, noting that a federal judge in Florida had just ruled the entire law unconstitutional.

The NAM also issued a statement from Aric Newhouse, senior vice president for policy and governmental relations, “Manufacturers: Health Care Laws Will Cost Jobs and Stifle Growth.”

The National Association of Manufacturers on Tuesday sent a “Key Vote” letter to House members urging support of H.R. 2, the bill to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. From the letter:

The vast majority of American manufacturers, including 97 percent of NAM member companies, voluntarily offer health benefits not only to attract a skilled workforce, but because they believe it is the right thing to do for their employees. Our members support proposals that reduce soaring health costs, improve the efficiency of the current system and enhance the quality of care.

Conversely, manufacturers oppose proposals that make it more expensive or more difficult for employers to offer health benefits. Legislation enacted in 2010 – specifically the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act – will drive up manufacturers’ health care costs and force many companies to consider abandoning the generous benefits they currently offer.

We remain adamantly opposed to the new laws’ employer mandates, industry-specific fees, Medicare hospital insurance tax increases, reporting requirements, excise taxes and limits on Flexible Spending Accounts – all of which will place more burdens on America’s job creators. Our nation can and must do much better at finding a health care solution, and the 2010 legislation should be repealed.

Determined by a committee presenting NAM members of all sizes, Key Votes are used to rate a member of Congress’ record on manufacturing-related issues.

The House is now debating H.Res. 1766, the rule for consideration of H.R. 4853, the tax compromise. Opponents have adopted — in some cases, for the first time — budget deficits as their defining political principle, while in the case of the estate tax indulging in some of the most bellicose class warfare rhetoric we’ve heard all session.

The argument against the estate tax compromise, that is, for welcoming the return of the full 55 percent estate tax rate with just a $1 million exemption, boils down to, “Wealthy! WEALTHY! Tax breaks for WEALTHY! Bad! WEALTHY!”

The National Association of Manufacturers has sent a “Key Vote” letter to the House calling for final passage of H.R. 4853. On the estate tax, the NAM’s Executive Vice President Jay Timmons wrote:

[NAM] members have consistently called for repeal or significant reform of the estate tax. We believe that the estate tax language passed by the Senate yesterday, which calls for a 35-percent tax rate and a $5-million exemption, represents significant reform. However, the estate tax provisions included in the amendment offered by Representative Pomeroy do not provide the reform needed to relieve manufacturers from the estate tax burden.

For small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs), business owners and families, the estate tax is more than a one-time tax. In a 2009 survey of our SMM members, respondents said they spent, on average, $94,000 annually on fees and estate-planning costs in preparation for their estate tax bill. This is money that could have been used to grow businesses and add jobs. Many small manufacturers and small businesses are seriously and adversely impacted by the estate tax. Higher rates lead to job loss.

The NAM has also prepared a ManuFact fact sheet on the anti-investment impact of the estate tax, AKA the death tax. It includes a fact we have not seen noted elsewhere lately: “According to the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), the death tax costs the economy more than it adds to federal revenues. It has generated $761 billion since 1942 while reducing the stock of capital in the economy by $847 billion. The May 2006 study by JEC, ‘Costs and Consequences of the Federal Estate Tax,’ found no compelling reason to continue to collect the tax and several compelling reasons to reduce or abolish it.”

NAM Key Votes are identified by a committee of NAM member companies of all sizes and are used to determine a member of Congress’ record on manafucturing issues.

The National Association of Manufacturers sent a “Key Vote” letter Monday to the U.S. House opposing the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1586, now known as the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act.

This is the bill the Senate passed last week and for which Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called the House back to Washington. You can read the text of the legislation starting at page Senate Amendment 4575, the text of which starts S6587 of The Congressional Record.

From the NAM’s letter:

While the NAM has taken no position on the spending provisions in the legislation, we remain adamantly opposed to using proposed tax increases on American worldwide companies to fund unrelated spending initiatives.

An estimated 22 million people in the United States – more than 19 percent of the private sector workforce and 53 percent of all manufacturing employees – are employed by companies with operations overseas. Manufacturers feel strongly that imposing $9.6 billion in tax increases on these companies as proposed in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1586 will jeopardize the jobs of American manufacturing employees and stifle our fragile economy.

Some of the proposed tax increases, which are mischaracterized as closing tax loopholes, actually represent significant changes to pro-growth tax policy supported by Congress and the Administration.
We are disappointed that many of the legislation’s proposed tax increases have not been adequately scrutinized during congressional hearings. In many cases, taxpayers have relied on these longstanding tax provisions in structuring their businesses. Changing the rules without fair and adequate hearings will cost in terms of jobs, investment and manufacturers’ ability to compete overseas.

Manufacturers believe strongly that changes to our international tax laws should be considered in the broader context of tax reform that makes the United States more competitive – not as “pay fors” for unrelated policy initiatives. Moreover, targeting some international tax law changes in advance of the tax reform debate would make the goal of pro-growth, pro-competitiveness reform that much more difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.

Key Vote letters are used to notify members of Congress that their votes will be taken into account when rating a member’s voting on manufacturing-related issues. The positions are determined by the Key Vote Advisory Committee composed of representatives of NAM-member companies of all sizes.

The NAM is member of the PACE Coalition of major business trade associations, which last week registered its opposition to the tax increases in the Senate bill.

The House convenes at 9 a.m. today. Bloomberg reports on the politics of the issue in this story.

The House had a full debate on the floor Thursday on H.R. 5893, the Investing in American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act. By “Closing Tax Loopholes,” supporters mean raising taxes on U.S. businesses with global operations, and the National Association of Manufacturers sent a Key Vote letter opposing the bill.

The final vote on the bill was postponed, postponed, and as the floor session continued into Friday morning, postponed. It was never held, and so far there’s no sign of a vote today, and the House is scheduled to leave soon for its August recess.

It may be that a majority of House members recognized that raising taxes on manufacturers and other businesses — jobs creators — is a terrible idea. Today’s Commerce Department announcement that second quarter 2010 GDP growth was just 2.4 percent, indicating a slowing recovery, should give Representatives further reason for restraint. (BLS news release, Los Angles Times, “Economy slows sharply in second quarter.”)

The floor debate on H.R. 5893 started on page H6355 of The Congressional Record. Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), the ranking member of the House Ways & Means Committee, cited the NAM’s letter on page H6367.

UPDATE (10:45 a.m.): Rep. Camp just said the bill did not come to a vote because the Republicans had a motion to recommit that would have passed. The House is now debating H.R. 5982, which appears to be a bill that also has tax increases on businesses with overseas operations. Rep. Scott Murphy (D-NY) calls it the “Small Business Tax Relief Act,” says it would repeal the additional IRS 1099 reporting required under the new health care law. Bill was just introduced today.

The National Association of Manufacturers has just sent a “Key Vote” letter to the U.S. House, expressing the NAM’s strong opposition to H.R. 5893, the Investing in American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010.

The full letter is available here. The gist:

An estimated 22 million people in the United States—more than 19 percent of the private sector workforce and 53 percent of all manufacturing employees—are employed by companies with operations overseas. Manufacturers feel strongly that imposing $11.5 billion in tax increases on these companies as proposed by H.R. 5893 will jeopardize the jobs of American manufacturing employees and stifle our fragile economy.

Many of the tax increases proposed in H.R. 5893, which are mischaracterized as closing tax loopholes, actually represent significant changes to the pro-growth tax policy supported by Congress and the Administration. For example, the proposed anti-competitive limitation on the use of Sec. 956 loans removes a greatly needed source of U.S. cash for worldwide American companies – a source that Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sought to facilitate in guidance issued as recently as last December. As we continue to work through one of the greatest credit crunches in U.S. history, taking away a source of cash for U.S. companies to grow, build and create jobs puts our fragile recovery at risk.

We are disappointed that many of the bill’s proposed tax increases have not been adequately scrutinized during congressional hearings. In many cases, taxpayers have relied on these longstanding tax provisions in structuring their businesses. Changing the rules without fair and adequate hearings will cost in terms of jobs, investment and manufacturers’ ability to compete overseas.

Manufacturers believe strongly that changes to our international tax laws should be considered in the broader context of tax reform that makes the United States more competitive – not as “pay fors” for unrelated policy initiatives. Moreover, targeting some international tax law changes in advance of the tax reform debate would make the goal of pro-growth, pro-competitiveness reform that much more difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.

The bill has some good provisions, such as extending the Build America Bonds authority and lifting the state volume cap for private activity bonds for water and waste water infrastructure. But the major impact of the bill is to raise taxes on companies that create wealth and jobs in the United States, in the process making the U.S. a less attractive, less competitive place to do business.

The NAM uses “Key Vote” letters to inform members of Congress that the pending votes will be taken into account when assessing a member’s record on manufacturing-related issues.

The National Association of Manufacturers today sent a “Key Vote” letter to U.S. House members expressing the association’s opposition to H.R. 5175, the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act. The letter, available here, is a forceful one. Excerpt:

Put simply, this legislation threatens First Amendment freedoms and is a direct assault on the U.S. Constitution. Its purpose is to hinder groups, including associations such as the NAM, which give voice to their members’ views and priorities. The Supreme Court repeatedly has recognized that voluntary associations are key participants in the public debate, and that government’s attempts to curb participation in associations in order to stifle their voice in the public debate violate the First Amendment. There need be no further discussion on whether First Amendment freedoms should apply to some and not to others.

As drafted, H.R. 5175 would curb the First Amendment rights of many corporations that regularly participate in contracts with the federal government or have limited foreign ownership or control. We believe the bill’s disclosure provisions could easily be used to create “political enemies” lists or to promote “boycotts” – all aimed at chilling companies’ legitimate advocacy activities. It is unconscionable that these same First Amendment restrictions do not apply equally to unions representing government workers or unions with foreign members or directors.

The recent “deal” that was announced is even more troubling. This special deal is a virtual earmark that would exempt specially chosen interest organizations and exclude others. It was negotiated without the transparency the bill purports to champion and is the epitome of what Americans believe is wrong with politics today.

Our nation benefits when America’s job creators exercise their First Amendment rights and speak out about public policies that impact economic growth and U.S. job creation, and about political candidates’ views on those and other important subjects. The DISCLOSE Act would take away those rights by imposing harmful restrictions on corporations, associations, government contractors, American firms with very limited foreign ownership and U.S. subsidiaries.

“Key Vote” letters are approved by the NAM’s Key Vote Advisory Committee made up of representatives of member companies of all sizes. The letters let members of Congress know their votes on the legislation in question may be included when the NAM ranks members on their manufacturing records.