Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) continued leading a small group of Senators and White House officials this week in an effort to craft health care reform legislation that can achieve a 60-vote mark, making it filibuster-proof. Earlier in the week, Sen. Lieberman (I-CT), who caucuses with the Democratic party and is included in the 60-40 split between Democrats and Republicans making up the Senate, announced he would not vote for Reid's bill. Lieberman cited cost concerns and the federal government trying to "do too much" too quickly as reasons for his opposition. Another swing vote, Sen. Snowe (R-ME), also spoke critically of Reid's bill and said she did not think she would be able to vote for it. In order to appease both liberals and moderates, Reid is suggesting modifications of a robust public plan, including one that would allow states to opt-out of such a system. Because a bill will not be brought to the floor until it can muster the needed 60 "yes" votes, it is not anticipated that a vote will take place until Thanksgiving at the earliest.

Included in the economic stimulus law earlier this year was tax relief for small companies with annual revenues of $15 million or less. Specifically, the tax relief was a temporary extension of the net operating loss (NOL) carryback period to five years from two years for 2008 NOLs only. This NOL relief allowed small companies to file an amended tax return to get an expedited tax refund by allowing current NOLs to offset federal income taxes paid in very recent profitable years. Due to the low revenue cap, many printing companies were not able to benefit from this relief. Printing Industries continues to advocate for bipartisan legislation S. 823 (Snowe/Baucus) and H.R. 2452 (Neal/Tiberi) which include NOL relief extended for all companies. At press time, there was a tentative deal that would add five-year NOL carryback relief provisions to H.R. 3548, a must-pass unemployment insurance (UI) benefits extension bill. During comments on the Senate floor on October 29, Finance Committee Chair Baucus (D-MT) spoke in favor of NOL relief and urged Senate passage of the UI bill with NOL relief language included. Timing of final passage remains uncertain due to Senate procedural rules. Printing Industries urges Congress to pass temporary, expanded NOL carryback relief, which would provide cash infusion to struggling printing companies of all sizes.

Printing Industries of America this week joined other associations representing small businesses in lobbying the House to pass H.R. 3854, the Small Business Financing and Investment Act, sponsored by Rep. Velazquez (D-NY). Velazquez is Chair of the House Committee on Small Business and is a 110^th Congress Friend of Print award recipient. H.R. 3854 seeks to unfreeze credit markets for small businesses by revising and adding to various Small Business Administration (SBA) lending programs. In a letter to all U.S. Representatives, Printing Industries and allies stated that, "Access to credit has become a top issue for small businesses today. The failure to completely unfreeze credit markets for small businesses is slowing the recovery efforts and stalling the significant job creation potential of small business entrepreneurs." The letter than asked for full support of H.R. 3854 as one means to address the problem. The bill passed by a strong bipartisan vote of 389-32. Passage of this bill is one sign that momentum for addressing economic challenges for small lenders and credit-worth small businesses is gaining attention following the national focus of mega-bank bailouts and reforms.

Despite the focus on health care crowding out many other policy debates, Sen. Boxer (D-CA) moved forward this week the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's consideration of the Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. Boxer chaired three days of hearings, which included testimony from the Virginia Manufacturers Association that cited statistics as to how the House-passed version of climate change would impact jobs negatively. Boxer is intent on moving S. 1733 through the committee process and has called for a formal markup of the bill; however, GOP Committee members have threatened a boycott of the markup as a protest that the Environmental Protection Agency has not conducted a thorough economic assessment of the bill. Boxer's response to the concern was that the EPA had already studied similar legislation and a study on S. 1733 would be redundant. On a related note, influential Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus (D-MT) raised concerns about the Kerry-Boxer bill, which could further delay an overall move to push climate change legislation to the Senate floor.

Rep. Danny Davis (D) is expected to make a decision by November 9 as to whether he will run for his eighth term or if he will run for Cook County Board President. Rep. Davis filed petitions to run for both offices this week. He currently serves on the House Oversight & Government Reform and Ways & Means Committees, and is a long-time staunch advocate of the printing industry in relation to postal reform issues. Rep. Davis was a 110^th Congress Friend of Print award recipient.