Suggested Event
Jun 15, 2021 to Jun 17, 2021
U.S. Trade Representative Katharine Tai spent several hours on May 12 and May 13 before members of Congress outlining the Biden administration’s trade policy. Agricultural issues including enforcement of the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement, renewing Trade Promotion Authority and advancing more trade agreements were commonly called on to help farmers.
As a former staffer on the House Ways and Means Committee who received 98 votes in her Senate floor confirmation, many have high expectations for bipartisanship and the ability to work across the aisle. The USMCA agreement was able to garner wide bipartisanship, and Tai wants to see that continue.
ACLJ, 74 Members of Congress to Federal Court: Biden-Pelosi-Schumer Ban on States Lowering Taxes Is Blatantly Unconstitutional
ACLJ, 74 Members of Congress File In Court on Biden s State Tax Cut BanBy Jordan Sekulow16179888527231617988852723
Last month, after five bipartisan COVID-19 stimulus bills enacted in 2020, Democrats in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives opted to use the budget reconciliation process to approve a partisan sixth stimulus bill. This resulted in a law littered with problems, but one of the worst is a provision inserted at the last minute that functionally prohibits states from cutting state taxes anytime between now and 2024. This is, of course, an egregious abuse of power that eviscerates each state’s constitutional authority to set its own taxation policy.
Today on
Sekulow, we discussed the breaking announcement that the ACLJ is filing a critical amicus brief in court to challenge President Biden’s power grab to control state taxes. It isn’t just our members we’re filing on behalf of; we’re representing 74 Members of Congress on this brief in federal court to dispute this unconstitutional provision of the latest “COVID relief” bill.
We believe this is an unconstitutional power grab trying to limit the ability of states that receive stimulus funds from doing anything directly or indirectly that could lead to a tax cut at the state level.
Members of Congress are again looking to repeal the estate tax, commonly referred to as the death tax among agricultural circles. Although the tax reforms enacted during the Trump Administration offered a limited repeal of the estate tax, this bill would allow for a complete repeal of the estate tax.
The Death Tax Repeal Act of 2021 was introduced this week by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. with 25 Republican co-sponsors, and Reps. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., and Jason Smith, R-Mo., who have 120 -cosponsors, however, Bishop is the only Democrat. Some Democrat proposals have threatened an elimination of the estate tax as well as stepped-up basis.