US Senate Democrats oppose firms that export jobs

Republicans and possibly a few Democrats are expected to block the bill. They say the tax increases would make US companies less competitive.

Political symbolism,not passing the bill,was the Democrats’ point in the final days before Congress bolts Washington for the election campaign trail.

“This is part of the continuing focus on jobs,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow,a Democrat,told reporters.

All 435 House seats,37 in the Senate and the Democratic majority in both houses are on the line Nov. 2.

Unable to hold the party together on President Barack Obama’s call to extend expiring middle class tax cuts,Democrats instead sought to demonstrate their commitment to helping the economy recover from recession.

Sen. Dick Durbin,a leading Democrat,said,”I wish this election would be a simple referendum on the debate we’re having on the floor of the Senate right now.”

The bill at issue in the Senate would exempt companies that import jobs from paying the 6.2 percent government payroll tax for new US employees who replace overseas workers who had been doing similar work.

The two-year exemption would be available for workers hired over the next three years. The tax cut -estimated to cost about USD 1 billion – would be partially offset by tax increases on companies that move jobs overseas.

The bill would prohibit firms from taking deductions for business expenses associated with expanding operations in other countries. It would increase taxes on US companies that close domestic operations and expand foreign ones to import products to the US Republicans dismissed the whole debate as a political ploy.

They argued the tax cuts would be difficult to administer and the tax increases would hurt international corporations that employ US workers.