Democrats have stripped out a variety of contentious tax"Understand that Grassley's comments signal that Baucus actually had the support of his ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee to enact all of these progressive reforms. Yet, incredibly, he went ahead and stripped out these measures anyway.
measures that had been tied to the minimum-wage legislation,
under pressure from some of the nation's largest business
lobbies. Gone is a measure that would have restricted what
executives and other highly paid employees can place in
deferred-compensation plans, one of the most popular
benefits in corporate America. Gone is a proposal to deny
tax deductions for fines and penalties associated with lawsuits.
And gone are measures to target a variety of corporate tax
shelters. The demise of these measures infuriated one of
their chief sponsors, who yesterday accused Democrats
of "caving in to K Street, pure and simple." "Frankly,
I thought it would be easier to close tax loopholes and
tax shelters with Democrats in control of Congress than
Republicans, and I've been totally dismayed,"
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, said in an interview.
"Democratic leaders blew it for small business." Carol
Guthrie, spokeswoman for Senate Finance Committee
Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., defended the
minimum-wage package, saying Baucus "fully intends
to revisit ... provisions not included."
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