Last Wednesday evening, Majority Leader Reid received the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate of the Senate health care reform bill, allowing him to officially start the clock on consideration of the legislation. Reid had promised his colleagues that he would wait for a cost estimate before putting the bill on the Senate calendar. CBO has scored the bill at just under $850 billion, though critics point out that many of the significant mandates and reforms do not begin until 2014, and therefore the true costs of 10-year projections from 2014 are greater than they appear in the CBO estimate. Printing Industries is still analyzing the employer section of the 2,000-plus-page bill, which is a hybrid of the Senate HELP Committee-passed bill and the more moderate Senate Finance Committee-passed bill. The Reid bill draws most heavily from the HELP Committee version.

Regarding the employer mandate, the bill contains a "free rider" penalty that would require employers who offer care that is not deemed affordable or is low value (actuarial value of less than 60 percent) to pay a penalty for each full-time employee (FTE) who obtains a subsidy in the newly created health exchange equal to $3,000 times the total number of FTEs who receive a subsidy in the exchange. The fee would be capped at $750 times the total number of FTEs in the company's entire workforce. While the employer mandate excludes many printers at first blush due to its "50 workers or more" provision, the mandate would add indirect costs to employers and would hinder job growth. On the funding side, the bill relies heavily on new taxes on business and on specific sectors of the economy. There is an individual mandate with a range of penalties for noncompliance, from $95 in 2014 to $750 in 2016. There is a newly created health exchange with four plan levels that includes mandated levels of coverage and is considered the access point for non-employer health coverage. The exchange includes a public plan with a state opt-out. For Capitol Hill analysis, the Democratic summary of their bill is here; the GOP summary of it is here. Printing Industries is analyzing the employer, tax, and other relevant sections of Reid's comprehensive reform bill and will provide additional policy points, grassroots letters, and related materials as debate begins after the holiday week.

Last week, Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and George Voinovich (R-OH) introduced S. 2784, bipartisan estate tax legislation. The legislation, which also reflects proposals advocated by President Obama, would freeze the estate tax at its current 2009 levels. Under the bill, the value of any estate above $7 million per couple, or $3.5 million per individual, will be taxed at a 45 percent rate. That rate would remain constant, while exclusion amounts would be adjusted upward each year to account for inflation. The bill includes a Sense of the Senate resolution that calls for the cost of the Carper-Voinovich bill to be completely offset, consistent with Congress' commitment to pay-as-you-go rules. In the House, H.R. 4154, a bill sponsored by Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) that would make permanent the current 2009 levels is expected to be on the House floor as early as next week. Should that bill pass, a House-Senate conference situation could emerge and provide an opportunity to expand estate tax relief to more printing companies by raising the exemption levels, lower tax rates, indexing for inflation, and, above all, ensuring permanency. Printing Industries continues to lobby on all fronts to achieve estate tax relief.

New IRS Guidance (Revenue Procedure 2009-52) tells taxpayers the time and manner for making the election if the taxpayer (1) has not claimed a deduction for an applicable NOL; (2) previously claimed a deduction for an applicable NOL; or (3) previously filed an election to forgo the NOL carryback. As noted in the last imPRINT, the "Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act" signed into law on November 6^th includes temporary Net Operating Loss (NOL) tax relief. The law will allow struggling companies to get quick cash refunds from the IRS by using either their 2008 or 2009 losses to offset taxes paid in the past five years. Printing Industries had lobbied throughout the year to achieve this relief. Additionally, details regarding the law were provided in a free Deloitte/NAM-sponsored webinar made available to Printing Industries' members.

Majority Leader Reid last week confirmed what seemed obvious to many at this point in the calendar: that the Senate would wait until 2010 to address climate change (a.k.a. cap-and-trade) legislation. Reid said he intended for the Senate "to try to do" the bill in the spring. Senators from both parties expressed doubt that the body would be willing to tackle such a controversial and comprehensive bill heading into the fall elections while others noted they may need more time to educate constituents on such legislation. Additionally, a separate jobs bill being eyed by both chambers may supersede a climate change debate.

Printing Industries of America joined with other trade associations last week to raise multiple concerns regarding H.R. 3991, a bill to address workplace response to the flu epidemic, in advance of a Congressional hearing on the legislation. In a letter to House Education and Workforce Chairman George Miller (D-CA) and Ranking Member John Kline (R-MN), the group noted that employers have already taken steps this year to address a pandemic flu and that one-size-fits-all mandates are generally impractical as workforce issues vary from industry to industry and by size of company. The letter listed specific ambiguities in the bill, including direction on how H.R. 3991 would affect existing leave policies, compensation questions, employer guidance issues, and more.

While attention remains squarely focused on health care reform, lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle are still talking Employee Free Choice Act and expect it to be one of the next major legislative debates in Congress. The Wall Street Journal this week published an interesting point-counterpoint interview on the topic of current labor-management relations and on how labor unions will fare under the current power structure in Washington, D.C. Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern, who recently made headlines as the most frequent public visitor to the White House, and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) represented their views on both the Employee Free Choice Act and the topic overall.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced this week that she will not resign her seat until after the Texas Republican gubernatorial primary next March, reversing her prior decision signaling she would resign from the Senate this fall to focus on her bid for the Texas Governor. The primary field to replace her remains in flux due to this decision.

Senator Robert Byrd officially broke the record for longest serving member of Congress as of Wednesday. Senator Byrd first arrived in the House in January 1953 where he served six years before moving to the Senate in 1959. He has served 20,774 days-or 56 years and 10½ months. The 91-year old Senator has served under 11 presidents.

Representative Dennis Moore (D-KS) delivered the first official retirement announcement of the 111^th Congress this week as he stated he will not run for a seventh term next fall. Moore represents a district encompassing parts of Kansas City, Overland Park, and Lawrence.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) outraised its counterpart, the Democratic Senatorial Congressional Committee (DSCC), last month by about $300,000. According to the Federal Election Commission, the NRSC raised about $4 million last month and had about $5.9 million in cash on hand as of Oct. 30. The NRSC also reported having spent about $3.1 million last month, with the largest line item going toward updating the committee's direct mail programs, a sign that election year mail volume may be significant part of political advertising in 2010.