Today In Washington – October 17, 2017

Today In Washington
October 17, 2017
Source: AEO Government Relations Team, Madison Services Group

Tax Reform
Yesterday, the Senate Budget Committee released their committee report for their FY2018 Budget Resolution. It provides $47 trillion in budget authority for 10 years, with $35.4 trillion for mandatory spending and $11.5 trillion in discretionary spending. The resolution also includes the following provisions:
• Reconciliation language that grants the Senate Finance Committee the authority to “reduce revenue and change outlays to increase the deficit by not more than $1.5 trillion over 10 years.” This provision allows for tax reform legislation.
• Reauthorizes dynamic scoring. Dynamic scoring is a budgetary provision allows for the macroeconomic effects of increased economic activity to be taken into consideration when the Congressional Budget Office or Joint Committee on Taxation determines the cost to the federal government of tax reform legislation.
o Through this provision, the Committee assumes economic growth of 2.6% as a result of tax reform, instead of the CBO’s 1.8% 10-year forecast, which the Committee says will offset the $1.5 trillion cost of tax reform.
• An amendment, offered by Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), to establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund for worker training programs that target workers who need advance skills to progress in their current profession, apprenticeship or certification programs that provide retraining for a new industry was included in the resolution.
Small Business Disaster Relief
Yesterday, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced a rule regarding a new pilot program, the “Express Bridge Loan Pilot Program.” The Express Bridge Loan Pilot Program will provide expedited guaranteed bridge loan financing for disaster-related purposes to small businesses located in communities impacted by a Presidentially declared disaster, while those small businesses apply for, and await, long-term financing — including through SBA’s direct disaster loan program. You can find a summary of the program here.