WKTV Staff
U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) on Monday, Jan. 30, introduced legislation she states would encourage businesses to bring jobs to America and discourage companies from shipping jobs overseas. It’s fate in a Republican-controlled Senate is uncertain.
Stabenow’s “Bring Jobs Home Act” first introduced this legislation in 2012, and in every Congress since, but, she said in supplied material, Senate Republicans have repeatedly blocked it.
“We need to be exporting our products, not our jobs,” Sen. Stabenow in supplied material. “It’s outrageous to ask hard-working Americans and communities to foot the bill for companies that move jobs overseas. If President Trump and Republicans in Congress are serious about bringing jobs back home, they should work with me to pass my legislation right now.”
The “Bring Jobs Home Act of 2017” creates a new tax cut to provide an incentive for U.S. companies to move jobs and business activity from another country back to America. Specifically, her initiative will allow U.S. companies to qualify for a tax credit equal to 20% of the cost associated with bringing jobs and business activity back to the United States. The act also would end a tax deduction for U.S. companies that outsource jobs and business activity.
Rep. Huizenga seeks repeal of part of Dodd-Frank Act
U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), who is the chairman of the House of Representatives capital markets committee, on Tuesday, Jan. 31, voiced support to efforts to repeal section 1504 of The Dodd-Frank Act — specifically a Securities and Exchange Commission rule — by using the Congressional Review Act.
“The SEC is tasked by Congress to both protect investors and facilitate capital formation,” Rep. Huizenga said in supplied material. “Despite being instructed in Federal Court, the SEC continues to propose a resource extraction rule that is overly burdensome, puts U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage, and fails to provide investors with useful information. Transparency is a critical element in governance and I believe there is a way for the SEC to achieve transparency regarding section 1504 however this revised rule falls short and remains deeply flawed.”
Sen. Peters concerned about Presidential order ‘implementing religious test’
U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI), on Monday, Jan. 30, joined his colleagues on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee in a letter requesting a meeting with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John Kelly about the crafting and implementation of President Donald Trump’s latest Executive Order restricting refugee admissions to the United States.
“We are deeply troubled by this unprecedented order and its implementation by the Department of Homeland Security,” Sen. Peters and his Senate Democrat colleagues wrote to Secretary Kelly, according to supplied material. “We urge you to postpone implementation of this Executive Order until these questions have been answered, and, more importantly, you have had an opportunity to ensure that the legal, policy, and practical impacts of President Trump’s order have been fully and thoroughly reviewed.”
The Senators additionally expressed alarm at a proposed religious tests for future immigrants, and questioned Kelly about the method DHS plans to use to collect religious data, after President Trump’s assertion in a recent interview that the United States would give preference to Christians seeking to obtain visas or admission to the country.
