The Senate Finance Committee is expected to report out its legislative product (still not in formal legislative language) early next week, setting up the task for Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) to meld it with the already-passed Senate HELP Committee bill so that the chamber will have one formal bill for all Senators to consider. Reports are that Reid has already begun this process, though there are conflicting reports as to which committee's bill will be used as base text. Senate Finance Committee proponents contend that their bill is more moderate and could attract the supermajority 60 votes needed for passage. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is expected to require at least two weeks to formally determine a federal price tag for the bill once it is crafted. Many Senators, including Sen. Snowe (R-ME), a key swing vote, are insisting that a CBO score be reported prior to a vote on the legislation. On the House side, various factions of the Democratic caucus continued meeting with their leadership for "listening sessions" with no major breakthroughs to produce a legislative bill in that chamber. President Obama is urging Congress to set a new deadline of Thanksgiving for a vote. In the meantime, the White House is reportedly drafting its own "go to" bill that could be a compromise for lawmakers should a logjam continue in Congress.

Printing Industries of America this week sent a message to Capitol Hill as part of the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition. A letter to the House and Senate urged lawmakers to support a permanent extension of the reduced estate tax rates rather than providing "a mere one-year extension of existing law that will only add to the planning burdens on businesses that are already facing difficult economic times." Both President Obama and Senate Finance Chairman Baucus (D-MT) have stated they support making permanent the 45 percent rate with an exemption for up to $3.5 million per individual. House Democrats have indicated they prefer to deal with estate tax in 2010 as part of a more comprehensive address of the Bush tax cuts set to expire in at the end of that year. Also of concern to some House Democrats is the cost, estimated at $85 billion to the federal budget, of making permanent the 2009 estate tax level. Sixty percent of printing facilities are family-owned businesses.

Not content to wait idly while health care reform steals the show, Sens. Boxer (D-CA) and Kerry (D-MA) this week offered a draft of the Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act, the Senate version of climate change legislation. At a press event announcing her legislation, Sen. Boxer stated, "This is our time. Climate change is our challenge." The bill as drafted would be more aggressive than the House-passed bill (Waxman-Markey) as it calls for a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 (House version calls for 17%). Details such as how companies would acquire allowances to cover their emissions would be worked out during the committee process and addressed by both the Senate Environmental & Public Works and Finance Committees. One contentious point of negotiation will be which industrial sectors get what allowances. Given the legislative calendar and focus on health care reform, the Kerry-Boxer bill is not expected to see a floor vote in 2009. Key Democratic Senators, particularly those representing coal-producing states or Rust Belt manufacturing states, are still maintaining a wary opposition to the idea of cap and trade and have declined this week to take an initial position. The GOP response was swift; Sen. Thune (R-SD), a member of the Senate leadership team, called the bill "more expensive, more restrictive, and more aggressive" than the House-passed bill. Sen. McCain (R-AZ), a sponsor of climate change legislation last Congress, complained Kerry-Boxer does not work to promote nuclear power and voiced concern that not stating industry allocations upfront will lead to a special interest free-for-all even worse than seen in the House this summer.

The Obama administration announced this week the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will seek to curb carbon emissions through an aggressive rule that would mandate new, advanced pollution-control technology be added to the new or remodeled facilities of businesses that emit the most greenhouse gases. The move is seen by some as strategic as it would allow the EPA to use the Clean Air Act to achieve climate change goals in case the Senate is unable to produce legislation similar to or stricter than the one passed by the House in late July. The EPA rule must be open to public comment for 60 days and is expected to face legal challenges. EPA has not announced when it expects to finalize the rule. Printing Industries of America is reviewing the proposed rule's impact on manufacturers.

Printing Industries of America this week thanked the over 100 participants who joined the association's webinar on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) featuring special guest, Ms. Cheryl Falvey, General Counsel of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The webinar focused on the onerous and conflicting requirements still under consideration at the CPSC regarding children's books and other printed material marketed to children under the age of twelve. The webinar generated many questions; CPSC has still not responded to all of these questions in writing per Printing Industries of America's request. For those who missed the webinar, it is still available for your review. Please click here to listen to the recording. For further updates, visit the Printing Industries' CPSIA webpage at www.printing.org/cpsia.

President Obama on Thursday signed H.R. 2918, which appropriates funding for the Legislative Branch for the next fiscal year. Contained in that legislation was a provision encompassing H.R. 22, a bill that would relieve the U.S. Postal Service of $4 billion dollars it was scheduled to pre-pay into its retiree fund. The one-year temporary relief is set to allow the USPS to continue adjusting to both mail volume decline and economic turmoil. Printing Industries of America supported the one-year fix as necessary to avoid an exigency postal rate case; however, Printing Industries of America has been clear with lawmakers in the Senate and House that a kick-the-can-down-the-road approach does nothing to address the underlying operational problems at the USPS and that longer-term solutions in both Congress and by USPS are critical to ensuring the future viability of mail.

A special election date has been set for Tuesday, November 3, 2009 to replace the Rep. John McHugh, newly appointed Secretary of the Army. A three-way race between Republican candidate Dede Scozzfava, Democratic candidate Bill Owens, and Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman is tight, with Scozzfava leading by 7% according the Siena Research poll conducted this week.