–House Majority Leader Says He Has Long Supported Repatriation Bills
–Rep. Cantor: Repatriation Could Help Boost Growth
–Hope To ‘Resolve’ FY’11 Budget By March 4th
–New Culture of Spending Cuts Alive Among House GOP

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Tuesday said
he continues to be “very supportive” of legislation that would allow
multinational corporations a one-time tax break to bring earnings from
foreign subsidiaries back to the U.S.

At his weekly briefing, Cantor said he has long supported the tax
repatriation idea as one that would help boost economic growth.

He did not say if House Republicans are preparing a bill. This idea
is also supported by Sen. Orrin Hatch, the ranking Republican on the
Senate Finance Committee.

Last year, the Senate handily defeated a repatriation bill that was
drafted by Democratic senator Barbara Boxer and Republican senator John
Ensign. Under their bill, the tax rate for companies bringing foreign
subsidiary earnings back to the U.S. would be slashed from the current
rate of 35% to 5%.

Boxer and Ensign argued that their proposal would bring hundreds of
billions of dollars back into the U.S. economy — where they could be
used to create jobs. Ensign said some believe that the repatriation
provision this year would bring up to $500 billion into the U.S.

But Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and several other
critics of the proposal said that little, if any, of the capital that
returned to the U.S. in 2004 was used by the firms to create jobs.
Baucus said there is “ample documentation” that this proposal did not
spur job growth in 2004.

Baucus also said that a study of the proposal by the Congressional
Joint Tax Committee estimated the Boxer-Ensign amendment would cost the
Treasury nearly $30 billion over 10 years.

On other matters, Cantor said House Republicans want to cut at
least $32 billion from the rest of the fiscal year 2011 budget.

He said a spending cut bill will come before the House next week
and said he is challenging all members to offer their spending cut
plans.

“We must cut government spending to manage down deficits and debt,”
Cantor said.

Cantor said House Republicans remain determined to bring federal
spending for non-defense discretionary programs to fiscal year 2008
levels.

The current stop-gap bill funding the federal government expires
March 4 and Cantor said he hopes the issue of funding for FY’11 will be
“resolved” by then.

Cantor said that he hopes President Obama’s meeting with
congressional leaders Wednesday focuses on cutting spending and boosting
economic growth and job creation.

“The agenda right now is about jobs and the economy,” he said.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

[TOPICS: M$U$$$,MFU$$$,MCU$$$]