Washington Update: Conference Debate Continues

In a crucial week for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, work continues behind the scenes, while Congressional leaders prepare for a public meeting on the legislation Wednesday.  This will be an opportunity for the committee to show progress and unity publically, while debate continues behind closed door.

Angst is growing with rank-and-file Members, so the process is expected to continue at a fast pace, with a likely vote on the conference report in both Chambers next week.

PABs and Advance Refundings Debate Continues

As Congress looks for ways to offset sweeping corporate and individual tax cuts, the effort to promote the Senate provision that fully preserves PABs and find a meaningful solution on municipal advance refundings continues.

Politico is working on an piece discussing these two provisions in response to Chairman Brady’s comments last week where he stated a plan to protect PABs for “infrastructure only.”  At this time, the BDA and MBFA continue to gather intel on Capitol Hill to further understand what the Chairman means by “infrastructure only,” while advocating for full preservation of PABs.

The BDA and MBFA have engaged the issuer community in order to gain support for an AR provision that would delay the effective date by a year and require Congress to work with the Treasury Department to find a no-cost fix to preserve issuers ability to advance refund.  It is important for our partners on Capitol Hill to see a unified coalition working to find a no-cost solution.

BDA Call to Action

While much progress has been made, there are still many differences that need to be ironed out before the package can be reported out of committee.   As debate continues in the conference committee, it is expected that Members of Congress will have the opportunity to voice their concerns with the legislation.  Members and their staff need to hear from you this week.

It is also vital that your issuer clients reach out to their Members of Congress. Their voice is needed as this debate progresses.

Talking points can be found here.

All Members of Congress are important in this effort, however leadership and conference committee Members are particularly important.