The Tax Foundation put together a set of charts illustrating the reality of the U.S. tax system. Here are three charts that should be understood when talking about the threat of automatic tax increases on businesses. To see the three charts, click here.   Read More...

NAEDA joined 80 other companies and associations on a letter to the House and Senate leadership asking for immediate action on two bipartisan companion bills: H.R. 4196, a bill introduced by Congressmen Tiberi, Larson, Paulsen, Neal, Marchant, and Pascrell and S. 2240, introduced by Senators Stabenow, Blunt, Brown (OH) and Roberts.    Read More...

A Congressional Budget Office report released by Senate Energy Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) asserts that having less flexibility in the choice of fuels contributes to the volatility of prices for transportation fuels. "A substantial amount of oil is produced in countries that are vulnerable to disruptions resulting from geopolitical, military, or civil developments, and few countries other than Saudi Arabia have much spare production capacity in the near term to offset such disruptions," the CBO report states. "In contrast, the U.S. markets for natural gas, coal, nuclear power, and renewable energy either are less prone to long-term disruptions or have significant spare production and storage capacity."    Read More...

A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a decision Friday dismissing on technical grounds two challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency's decision about two years ago to approve the introduction of gasoline blended with ethanol at the ratio of 15%, or E15.

The 2-1 decision, written by Chief Judge David B. Sentelle, said the petitioners, who are trade associations whose members are part of the petroleum and food industries, had "no standing to bring this action" and therefore, "We dismiss all petitions for lack of jurisdiction."    Read More...

Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT), Jon Tester (D-MT), Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Tim Johnson (S-SD) introduced legislation last week that would extend for one year the 2008 Farm Bill disaster programs that expired at the end of Fiscal Year 2011. Those programs include: the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments (SURE) program, the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), the Livestock Forage Program (LFP), and the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program (ELAP). House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Peterson (D-MN) said this week that an extension of SURE should be included in a conference agreement on the Farm Bill.   

The drought gripping the country raises the bar on Congress to get a farm bill done and possibly reinstall some disaster programs that have expired, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow said Tuesday.

House leaders have said little about scheduling floor time for the farm bill since it was moved out of committee last week. (DTN photo illustration by Nick Scalise)The extensive drought conditions will require lawmakers in conference negotiations to revisit the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program, or SURE, that expired last September.   Read More...

A new lawsuit alleges that the Environmental Protection Agency violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it refused a 2008 petition that would have required states to develop water quality standards for the Mississippi River Basin and the northern Gulf of Mexico.     Read More...

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued a new guidance document that impacts the ability of employers to continue to use criminal-background checks to make informed hiring decisions. The new guidance replaces one that had been in effect for twenty-five years and has served a wide variety of professions and occupations as a de facto national regulation.   Read More...

The GPS industry is forming a new trade association called the GPS Innovation Alliance that will work to educate policy makers and the public about the GPS system and protect the interests of the hundreds of organizations and users that rely upon the constellation, according to sources familiar with the new group.   Read More...

The Affordable Care Act (ACA or health care reform) says "applicable large employers" have to offer health insurance to their full-time employees or they may incur a penalty. But what is an "applicable large employer", how many hours do full-time employees work, and what happens if health insurance isn't offered?

In late December 2012, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury released proposed rules employers can use in 2013 to determine if they have to offer full-time employees coverage in 2014. At the same time, the IRS released a set of FAQs that summarize the rules and are a helpful guide.   

NAEDA joined 141 other organizations in a July 24th letter supporting passage of a package of bills now named H.R. 4078, the “Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Jobs Creation Act.” This bill would streamline the federal permitting process, impose transparency on the abused sue and settle process used by agencies and environmental groups to circumvent the rulemaking process, and to prohibit agencies from proposing or finalizing major midnight regulations.

The common sense reforms in this packaged bill would make the nation’s regulatory process more transparent, efficient, and workable for businesses that create jobs and contribute to economic growth. Sound regulatory policy is not possible unless the process is open and public participation is
welcomed by agencies. At the center of these regulatory reforms is an effort to promote good government practices that encourage efficiency, sound analysis, and public involvement.   Read More...

The House Agriculture Committee released draft language detailing $35 billion in savings over 10 years in its bill, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act, or "FARRM," which the committee will markup July 11. The bill comes after the Senate passed its version of the bill June 21, which is dubbed the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act.

Many of the provisions throughout the House bill are comparable to those in the Senate legislation, which partly stems from work the two agriculture committees did last fall in the failed supercommittee talks.   Read More...

Congressman Ed Whitfield (R-KY) has introduced a bill (H.R. 4342) in the House aimed at modernizing the infrastructure on the inland waterways system.  Known as “WAVE 4:  Waterways are Vital for the Economy, Energy, Efficiency, and Environment Act of 2012. This legislation will transform the Inland Waterways Capital Development Plan into law according to the Waterways Council Inc. (WCI).
  Read More...

On October 8, 2012, Mexico formally joined the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) as a full negotiating member once the other countries finished their internal procedures to accept new members. This important achievement in Mexico’s trade policy has been the result of an intense effort, which began in November 2011, when Mexico expressed interest in being part of this negotiation.   Read More...

A coalition letter was sent to members of congress on Thursday, February 2 asking them to include bonus depreciation as they consider House Bill 3630.  “NAEDA, in close cooperation with several other organizations, continues efforts to secure authorization of bonus depreciation for 2012.    We believe this is in the best interest of equipment dealers across the U.S.,” said Paul Kindinger, President & CEO.    Read More...

On January 27th, a bi-partisan group of 22 Members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to President Obama urging that LIFO repeal not be included in the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2013 Budget. On April 2nd, Jeffrey Zeints, Acting Director, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) responded to the Congressional letter on behalf of the Obama Administration supporting repeal of LIFO.

NAEDA and the LIFO Coalition, a coalition of more than 120 business organizations and trade associations, was provided a copy of both the letter to the President and the response on behalf of the President.   Read More...

In a letter date July 12th, the letter expressed strong opposition to the latest House and Senate version of the so-called DISCLOSE 2012 Act, S. 3369 and H.R. 4010, which both the Senate and House may consider in the coming days.

This legislation, like its predecessors in the 111th and 112th Congresses, is designed to chill the political speech of corporations, business interests, and others, while giving labor unions special protections. The bills do not propose genuine reform—the disclosure requirements are transparently political and ultimately
unconstitutional.   Read More...

A bill introduced by U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) to prohibit the collection of political contribution information from bidders for government contracts was approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee with bipartisan support.  This bill, "Keeping Politics out of Federal Contracting," was co-sponsored by 22 Senators.     Read More...

NAEDA joined with 106 organizations sending a letter to President Obama supporting the Keystone XL pipeline construction.    Read More...

Congress is currently considering legislation to extend Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with Russia. Approval of PNTR with Russia will greatly boost U.S. exports, create tens of thousands of American jobs, and is one of the U.S. Chamber's top trade priority before Congress this year. As part of the Chamber's efforts, NAEDA has signed on to a Chamber coalition letter stressing how important Russia's graduation from Jackson-Vanik is to the American business community. As the 11th largest economy in the world, Russia presents a huge opportunity to increase U.S. agricultural and other exports and create American jobs.

Additional signatories are still being collected for the letter. The final letter will be available on NAEDA's Web site when it is sent to Congress later in June.   

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) today applauded the Committee’s unanimous approval of his bill establishing permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with Russia and removing Russia from the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment.  Chairman Baucus’s bill will enable U.S. businesses to create jobs here at home by capitalizing on Russia’s growing market.  The legislation supports and creates thousands of U.S. jobs across every sector of the American economy, including manufacturing, agriculture and services, by helping double U.S. exports to Russia within five years.    Read More...

The Senate has approved legislation that would reauthorize the Export-Import Bank after rejecting five Republicans amendments, including a proposal to shut down the bank.

The bill was approved 78-20 — with all 20 “no” votes cast by Republicans — and now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature. The House passed the measure last week 330-93.   Read More...

A new study from accounting firm Ernst & Young, released July 17 by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), shows that allowing tax cuts to expire on top individual rates is likely to hurt job creation and the economy, particularly small business job creators.

The study says potential tax rate increase scheduled to start Jan.1, 2013 would directly impact small business organized as S corporations, partnerships, LLCs and sole proprietors, which make up about 75 percent of all small businesses.   Read More...

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- California could see gasoline shortages as early as 2015 as new state rules aimed at cutting greenhouse-gas emissions could shutter more than half the state's refining capacity in less than eight years, according to a new study commissioned by an industry group.    Read More...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed a series of changes to make it easier for agricultural producers and rural small businesses to apply for renewable energy and energy efficiency funding. USDA remains focused on carrying out its mission, despite a time of significant budget uncertainty. The announcement is one part of the Department's efforts to strengthen the rural economy.

Read more about the program.