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Extension of unemployment benefits by 13 weeks and a 3 year 30% write off on capital investment. This must be in addition to the current allowance of approximately $25,000 which can be directly expensed.

I hate to say this but this is what Daschle had proposed in January. I guess Bush can call it a victory for him because most won't know better but personally, I'd say Daschle won this one. It's what he wanted and now he can't be labeled an obstructionist. Oh well, it's probably neither here nor there.

I think you are basically correct. Between the steel pandering and this absolute boondoggle its business as usual in the beltway. If they want to cut taxes,they should cut taxes (and spending). These giveaways to a select few corporations are atrocious.

Is the extension of unemployment benifits only for 2002?

Taxes cut alone would just be fine with me....but, I am not up in arms about unemployment being extended. I really don't give a care frankly and as long as Bush is able to get the credit, yippee....:)

Senate Passes $51 Billion 'Job Creation Bill'

(Last Updated: March 8, 2002 -- 12:29 p.m.)

The Senate March 8 followed the House in approving a $51 billion "job creation" package administration officials have endorsed as a reasonable compromise.

Following a brief floor debate about the pros and cons of the bill, Senate lawmakers approved the House's revamped "Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002" (H.R. 3090) on a vote of 85 to 9 early March 8. The House overwhelmingly passed the bill 417 to 3 a day earlier.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said March 7 President Bush would sign the legislation.

House and Senate Republicans admitted the bill -- which delivers $43 billion in corporate tax breaks this year vs. $8 billion in unemployment insurance (UI) assistance to displaced workers -- was a far cry from Bush's initial stimulus or the House's $100 billion stimulus bill which passed back in October, but said this new package was still a worthwhile endeavor. "Frankly, I think we wound up about where we should have been," Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said after the vote. "I think we wound up with the best of all worlds."

Similarly, House and Senate Democrats said they dropped their push for rebate checks and worker subsidies for health care insurance in favor of locking in the UI extension for workers left jobless after September 11 as well as a two-year fix for a bundle of popular business tax breaks that expired last December.

The compromise legislation features: a three-year, 30 percent depreciation boost for business, along with the requisite alternative minimum tax modification for the depreciation allowance ($35 billion in 2002, $16 billion through 2012); an increase in the two-year carryback for net operating losses to five years; a waiver of the 90 percent limitation against the AMT ($8 billion in 2002, $2 billion through 2012); a bundle of targeted tax breaks to spur investment in the New York areas damaged as a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks ($484 million in 2002, $5 billion through 2012); a two-year fix for most of the so-called tax extenders ($394 million in 2002, $4 billion through 2012); a five-year extension of the subpart F exception for active financing income for insurance companies operating abroad ($315 million in 2002, $9 billion through 2012); a handful of technical tax corrections ($2 billion in 2002, $3 billion through 2012); and a base 13-week extension of UI benefits that can be automatically renewed for an extra 13 weeks should states require additional resources ($9 billion in 2002, $13 billion through 2012).

The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the bill will cost $51 billion in 2002, approximately $94 billion from 2002 to 2007, and about $42 billion through 2012.

Apparently the Rats didn't want this depreciatio to pass Senate rejects depreciation bonus in economic package

By
(January 25, 2002)

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate today rejected a three-year depreciation bonus as part of an economic stimulus package, but high-tech industry groups said the Republican-backed measure is needed to encourage computer and application purchases by businesses.

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The proposal, offered by U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), would have offered a 30% depreciation bonus. The measure was defeated by a vote of 45 to 39.

Following the defeat, Smith immediately introduced a new amendment seeking a two-year depreciation bonus. No action was taken on that measure immediately.

The bonus would work this way: If a computer costs $1,000, the purchaser would be able to write off a bonus 30% of the cost in the first year, or $300, plus 20% (the normal depreciation spread over five years) of the remaining $700.

Although the failure of Smith's proposal is a setback, it's not the end of efforts to get a depreciation bonus approved.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) this month said he would back an accelerated depreciation plan, but it would be limited to one year and would be retroactive to last September.

Supporters of the original depreciation bill are hopeful the two-year version will win passage: "I think it was an attempt to meet [the Democrats] halfway," said a spokesman for Smith.

Technology industry trade groups said they're worried that a short-term depreciation bonus will have the same impact that zero percent financing had on automobile makers.

"You get that huge jump in sales and then you fall off the cliff," said Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America in Arlington, Va. "That's why we are pushing for that longer period of time."

The Daschle depreciation proposal doesn't give companies enough time to take advantage of it, said Robert Cresanti, vice president of public policy at the Business Software Alliance. "A period of less than a year is just not a reasonable length of time for companies to plan," said Cresanti.

The U.S. House last year approved a three-year, 30% depreciation bonus.