Washington, DC - The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4213, the American Jobs, Closing Tax Loopholes, and Preventing Outsourcing Act to support millions of American jobs.  The final vote was 245-171.  The bill:

 

• restores credit to small businesses;
• extends the R&D tax credit;
• rebuilds American infrastructure;
• guarantees seniors and military families have access to doctors;
• expands summer jobs for young people; and,
• provides tax relief for middle class American families.

Congressman John D. Dingell (D-MI15) made the following comment following passage of the bill:

“I commend Chairman Levin for his fine work on H.R. 4213, the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, which will ensure the United States continues its recovery from the economic crisis of 2008.  H.R. 4213 will build upon the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by extending key provisions from ARRA that aid individuals, small businesses, and state and local governments.  This vital legislation will also revise current oil spill liability law to ensure those affected by the Gulf oil spill will be compensated.

“H.R. 4213 will cut taxes for hard-working Americans, including students and teachers.  This legislation will provide tax relief for property owners and provide students and their families additional assistance in paying for higher education.  Moreover, H.R. 4213 will aid small businesses by extending the small business loan program created in ARRA, which has saved or created over 650,000 jobs, 96,000 of which have been in Michigan.  Businesses will also receive tax credits to increase research and development, aid for real estate improvement, and tax relief for small businesses employing activated military reservists.  H.R. 4213 also provides temporary funding relief for over 29,000 single and multi-employer pension plans, which will help businesses to avoid lay-offs and hire additional workers.  It is important to note that this provision is temporary and does not allow employers to shirk their responsibility to funding employee and retiree pension plans. 

“More importantly, this legislation will extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Extended Benefit programs, as well as the $25 a week increase passed in ARRA, through December 2010.  This will ensure that the more than 300,000 Michigan workers who are currently relying on unemployment will not exhaust their benefits, more than 70,000 of which live in Wayne County.  It is my hope that this short-term extension will help these workers to continue to pay their bills as they actively seek training or new employment.  I am extremely disappointed that an extension of the COBRA subsidy passed in ARRA was not included in this bill.  While I certainly understand and agree with the restraining government spending, I do not believe we should be doing so on the backs of workers who have been laid-off and no longer have access to affordable health care.  I sincerely hope that we will revisit this issue following the Memorial Day recess. 

“This bill guarantees that seniors and military service members and their families will have access to the same doctors they have today by reforming the Medicare physician payment schedule. This is a necessary first step in providing proper payment for our Medicare doctors. However, this is not a final step. I continue to support a permanent repeal to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) and will continue to work toward this goal.

“I am concerned the final legislation does not extend the enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) which was intended to assist states in providing Medicaid to low-income families and give them a peace of mind that their insurance will not be dropped because of budget shortfalls.  An extension of the enhanced FMAP policy would have provided much needed relief to states, including Michigan, as they continue to feel the impacts of the recession.  I hope we can revisit this policy in the near future.”