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Public Law 110-343 () is a US
Act of Congress signed into law
A bill is proposed legislation under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature as well as, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an '' ...
by
U.S. President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
, which was designed to mitigate the growing
financial crisis of the late-2000s by giving relief to so-called "Troubled Assets."
[division B
Division or divider may refer to:
Mathematics
* Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication
*Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division
Military
* Division (military), a formation typically consistin ...]
), ''Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008'' (
division C
Division or divider may refer to:
Mathematics
* Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication
*Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division
Military
* Division (military), a formation typically consistin ...
), which also included the ''Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008'', and the ''Heartland Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2008''.
Legislative history
The first version of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (structured as an amendment to ) was rejected by the House of Representatives on September 29.
After its defeat, Senate leaders decided to amend an existing bill from the House in order to circumvent the revenue
origination clause
The Origination Clause, sometimes called the Revenue Clause,Wirls, Daniel and Wirls, Stephen. The Invention of the United States Senate', p. 188 (Taylor & Francis 2004). is Article I, Section 7, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution. The clause says ...
of
U.S. Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...
, and chose H.R. 1424 as the vehicle for the legislation.
[
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H.R. 1424 was sponsored by
United States House Representative Patrick J. Kennedy
Patrick Joseph Kennedy II (born July 14, 1967) is an American politician and mental health advocate. From 1995 to 2011, he served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Rhode Island's 1st congressional distr ...
.
On September 30, 2008,
Senate Majority Leader
The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding t ...
Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2017 and was the Sena ...
and
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced the proposed draft had been formalized for the amendment that would transform H.R. 1424 into the Senate version of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.
[
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On October 1, 2008, the amendment to H.R. 1424 was approved by a vote of 74 to 25, and the entire amended bill was passed by 74 to 25, (with one not voting, the cancer-stricken Senator
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
). The bill was returned to the House for consideration.
[
][United States Senate. 110th Congress (2nd Session]
Roll call vote #213
On October 3, 2008, the bill as passed by the Senate was accepted by a vote of 263 to 171 in the House. Every member of the House voted, though the House had a vacant seat of the recently deceased
Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio. President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
signed the bill into law a few hours later.
[
][United States House of Representatives. 110th Congress (2nd Session)]
Vote Number 681
/ref>
Three divisions
''Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008''
The ''Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008'' is part of an effort to bail out firms holding mortgage-backed securities in an attempt to restore liquidity to the credit markets.
''Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008''
The ''Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008'' contains a new tax credit for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles for less than a year after the first 250,000 are sold. The credit is a base $2,500 plus $417 for each kWh of battery pack capacity in excess of 4 kWh to a maximum of $15,000 for any vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating
Vehicle weight is a measurement of wheeled motor vehicles; either an actual measured weight of the vehicle under defined conditions or a gross weight rating for its weight carrying capacity.
Curb or kerb weight
Curb weight (U.S. English) or kerb ...
of more than and up to $7,500 for 12 kWh or more in passenger cars (vehicles up to ).
It also extends existing tax credits for renewable energy initiatives, including cellulosic ethanol
Cellulosic ethanol is ethanol (ethyl alcohol) produced from cellulose (the stringy fiber of a plant) rather than from the plant's seeds or fruit. It can be produced from grasses, wood, algae, or other plants. It is generally discussed for use as a ...
and biodiesel
Biodiesel is a form of diesel fuel derived from plants or animals and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made by chemically reacting lipids such as animal fat ( tallow), soybean oil, or some other vegetable oil ...
development, and wind
Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...
, solar, geothermal and hydro-electric power
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
. It establishes electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...
as a clean-burning fuel for tax purposes.
Separately, this section also requires the reporting of cost basis
Basis (or cost basis), as used in United States tax law, is the original cost of property, adjusted for factors such as depreciation. When property is sold, the taxpayer pays/(saves) taxes on a capital gain/(loss) that equals the amount realized ...
by brokers to the IRS for certain securities acquired after 2011 – see covered security
In U.S. law, a covered security may refer to two categories of securities:
* Under The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, is a security listed on the NYSE, AMEX, Midwest (Chicago), or NASDAQ Global Market or any security senior ...
.
''Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008''
The ''Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act'' includes $100 billion in tax breaks for businesses and the middle class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Com ...
, plus a provision to raise the cap on federal deposit insurance from $100,000 to $250,000.alternative minimum tax
The alternative minimum tax (AMT) is a tax imposed by the United States federal government in addition to the regular income tax for certain individuals, estates, and trusts. As of tax year 2018, the AMT raises about $5.2 billion, or 0.4% of all ...
from hitting 20 million middle-income Americans. It provides $8 billion in tax relief for those hit by natural disasters in the Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
, Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
and Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
.[
As a whole, the Senate tax package would cost $150.5 billion over 10 years. Roughly $43.5 billion would be offset by several revenue-raising provisions. ]Hedge fund
A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as s ...
managers would be forbidden from using offshore corporations to defer paying taxes.tax deduction
Tax deduction is a reduction of income that is able to be taxed and is commonly a result of expenses, particularly those incurred to produce additional income. Tax deductions are a form of tax incentives, along with exemptions and tax credits. T ...
that oil and gas companies
The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest ...
get for certain domestic production activities. The deduction, now 6 percent, is scheduled to rise to 9 percent in 2010.Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is one of two agencies that supply deposit insurance to depositors in American depository institutions, the other being the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates and insures cr ...
deposit insurance limit from $100,000 to $250,000 until December 2009
*Tax breaks for businesses
*Tax credit
A tax credit is a tax incentive which allows certain taxpayers to subtract the amount of the credit they have accrued from the total they owe the state. It may also be a credit granted in recognition of taxes already paid or a form of state "dis ...
s for the use of alternative energy and plug-in hybrids
*Tax credits for research and development
*Expansion of the child tax credit
A child tax credit (CTC) is a tax credit for parents with dependent children given by various countries. The credit is often linked to the number of dependent children a taxpayer has and sometimes the taxpayer's income level. For example, in t ...
*Protection from the Alternative Minimum Tax
The alternative minimum tax (AMT) is a tax imposed by the United States federal government in addition to the regular income tax for certain individuals, estates, and trusts. As of tax year 2018, the AMT raises about $5.2 billion, or 0.4% of all ...
*Tax reductions for victims of severe weather (e.g. tornadoes, floods, hurricanes)
*Extension of unemployment insurance
Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...
*A USD $1,000 tax credit for low income homeowners
*Tax breaks and credit extensions for the following:
**"Certain wooden arrows designed for use by children" (Sec 503)
**Wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...
research (Sec. 325)
** Film and television productions (Sec. 502)
** Litigants in the 1989 Exxon-Valdez oil spill (Sec. 504)
** Virgin Island and Puerto Rican rum
Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...
(Section 308)
**American Samoa
American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the Internationa ...
(Sec. 309)
**Mine rescue teams (Sec. 310)
**Mine safety equipment (Sec. 311)
**Domestic production activities in Puerto Rico (Sec. 312)
**Indian tribes (Sec. 314, 315)
**Railroads (Sec. 316)
**Auto racing tracks (317)
**District of Columbia
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
(Sec. 322)
''Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008''
The ''Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008'' (a part of Division C) mandates that if U.S. health insurance companies provide coverage for mental health and substance abuse, the coverage must be equal for conditions such as psychological disorders, alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...
, and drug addiction
Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use oft ...
.Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...
.
Cost
The Act increased the statutory limit on the public debt by US$700 billion to US$11.3 trillion. However, the legislation is designed to have a net zero long-term cost, and includes language that mandates the President and Congress to develop a plan to recoup any money that is not recouped within 5 years.[ (Access to legislative history of H.R. 1424)]
Reception
Journalists and critics commented that portions of the bill contained earmarks and pork barrel spending.
References
External links
*
House roll call vote
{{US_tax_acts
United States federal financial legislation
United States federal taxation legislation
United States federal health legislation
Acts of the 110th United States Congress
Troubled Asset Relief Program
Renewable energy law
October 2008 events in the United States