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Portman Sees Lame-Duck Stimulus No Matter Who Wins November 3

Posted on Nov. 2, 2020

Congress will probably pass more coronavirus emergency relief spending during the post-election lame-duck session and might explore some stimulus-related tax credits, according to a senior Republican taxwriter.

“Our chances are quite good actually” for a bipartisan agreement on additional relief spending to get the struggling U.S. economy “through this tough patch” between the election and a possible COVID-19 vaccine by year-end, Senate Finance Committee member Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told an Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center webcast October 30.

“I’m optimistic,” Portman added. “I think we can get something [on stimulus] done, regardless what happens with regard to the elections.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, seemed to douse Portman’s hopeful assessment on Hugh Hewitt’s radio talk show October 30.  “I think that’ll be something we’ll need to do right at the beginning of the year,” McConnell said.

Portman expressed hope to the Tax Policy Center that the lame-duck Congress would make permanent the work opportunity tax credit and extend it to employers that hire workers who lost jobs to the pandemic.

Portman also envisioned an expanded employee retention tax credit available to all companies, not just firms of 500 employees or fewer. “I’d like to make it a little more generous and be sure people can rely on it—make sure it’s certain,” he said. 

Employer Relief 

Portman said he’d like the lame-duck session to consider his Healthy Workplaces Tax Credit Act (S. 4214), introduced in July.

Portman said the proposal “simply says that if you do spend money on the plexiglass partition, or the hand sanitizer stations, or reconfiguring your manufacturing core because of COVID, you ought to be able to get a tax credit for those expenses.”

“I believe that in the lame duck, we’re going to take this up, because I do believe that we are not out of the woods in terms of the healthcare crisis,” Portman said. “It’s really essential for us, in my view, to provide some additional stimulus into the economy.”

“You look at the numbers again from Q3,” Portman said, referring to the record 33 percent spike in U.S. GDP in the third quarter of 2020. “A lot of the reason we’re doing well is because of the first four COVID [relief] packages, and because we do have a very resilient economy.” 

Leader ‘Who Gets It’ 

Portman also praised IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig’s work implementing agency reforms in the Taxpayer First Act (P.L. 116-25).

“Those reforms are far-reaching and pretty helpful for not just more effective administration, but also taxpayer rights, and in particular for the [now independent] appeals process,” Portman said.

The senator credited Rettig with raising agency employee morale, adding, “I think it’s time to support adequate resources” for the IRS budget in coming years.

But Portman added: “I would not have done it but for having these [Taxpayer First Act] reforms in place, and having a leader there who gets it.”

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