As a potential Senate vote on the EXPIRE Act looms, the WOTC Coalition’s Paul Suplizio urges WOTC proponents to renew their contacts with Republican Senators.
“We believe several Senate Republicans who support EXPIRE will break with their leader and vote for cloture when another vote is taken.”
Those considered most likely to vote for cloture (and who therefore should receive particular attention from WOTC supporters) include the following Republican Senators.
- Pat Roberts (Kansas),
- Rob Portman (Ohio),
- Jerry Moran (Kansas),
- Susan M. Collins (Maine),
- Mark Kirk (Illinois),
- Chuck Grassley (Iowa), and
- Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire)
If you or your clients are NOT doing business in states represented by these Senators, then by all means still reach out to your own Republican Senators. Urge them to vote for cloture when the vote is taken on the EXPIRE Act.
The following is published here with permission.
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Subject: EXPIRE Bill Still High Priority For Reid, Wyden
From: “Paul Suplizio”
Date: Tue, June 03, 2014 1:53 pm
June 3, 2014
We are bending every effort to break the deadlock over amendments to the EXPIRE bill and get it passed by the Senate and sent to the House for final passage without further delay.
To this end, we are urging Senator Reid to bring EXPIRE to the Senate again for another vote as soon as possible. We do this because Senator Reid and Senator Wyden have made crystal clear what they will accept by way of amendments—their only requirement is for amendments to be germane to the bill. It’s now up to the opposition to decide whether to accept these terms or keep the bill bottled up.
Faced with this choice, we believe several Senate Republicans who support EXPIRE will break with their leader and vote for cloture when another vote is taken.
The odds are strong that, on another vote, Republican Senators Roberts, Portman, Moran, Collins, Kirk, Grassley, Ayotte, and others will vote to advance the bill—more than enough to add to 55 Democrats and Independents to reach the 60 votes required to end debate and move to final passage.
It’s important for everyone to re-connect with the above-named senators and other Republicans from your state, or states where you have operations, urging them to vote for the EXPIRE bill when the Majority Leader brings it before the Senate again. Stay in touch with the tax legislative assistants of these senators to get a reading on whether they’re willing to vote for EXPIRE when it’s brought up again and open to germane amendments. Let us know any objections you may hear—we may be able to help resolve them.
One big obstacle to passage of EXPIRE has been removed—it’s now clear there’s no stomach in either Senate or House for requiring a revenue offset to the $80 billion cost of a two-year retroactive extension for WOTC and other extenders. The House may make changes to the Senate bill, but raising revenue to offset the cost won’t be one of them.
Any changes the House makes to any of the extenders are likely to be quickly resolved with the Senate—it shouldn’t slow final passage. Our biggest job is getting the bill un-snared in the Senate.
PAUL E. SUPLIZIO
President, WOTC Coalition
