As the clock ticks down to the end of the fiscal year on September 30, Congress moved closer toward a possible government shutdown this week, with Republicans vowing to block a budget deal if funding for Planned Parenthood is included.
Conservatives are pushing a must-pass bill as a way to stop approximately $500 million in funding for Planned Parenthood, which has been enveloped by a heated debate over some of its programs. Antiabortion conservatives say they will shut down the government if Planned Parenthood receives any funding.
Speaker John Boehner is again confronted with an uprising by several dozen conservative Republican lawmakers who are threatening to topple him unless he is more ferocious with Democrats during the upcoming fiscal showdown. Currently 31 Republicans are vowing to oppose any resolution that funds the government but does not cut off Planned Parenthood. With that, Speaker John Boehner would have to rely on some Democratic support to pass the legislation. This internal Republican feud increases the possibility that the federal government, for the second time in two years, could shut down.
In addition, conservative Republicans are signaling that if Boehner cuts any deals they do not approve of with Democrats and Obama, they may seek to remove him from his post as speaker. However, the conservatives have not outlined a plan to overcome the Democratic support for Planned Parenthood or how to build a two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto of legislation that does not provide funding for Planned Parenthood.
A “motion to vacate the chair” to remove Boehner can be offered as a resolution by any member of the House. It has been reported that the about 30 conservative Republicans oppose the speaker and more could follow if lawmakers felt political pressure from their constituencies.
At the same time, President Obama is pushing Republicans to scrap a multibillion-dollar tax advantage for private equity managers as the clock ticks down to the end of the fiscal year on September 30
The president is calling for Republicans to end the tax break, called the carried-interest provision, instead using the funds for spending increases on domestic and national security programs. The president has repeatedly proposed eliminating the provision, using it as an example of what he argues are misplaced priorities.
If the carried-interest provision was eliminated, then profits that fund managers earn from investing money would be treated as ordinary income. This would mean those profits would be taxed at the top rate of 39.6 percent, rather than as capital gains, which has a rate of no more than 23.8 percent. The change would raise about $18 billion over a decade, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
