–House Speaker Repeats His View That Some ‘Common Ground’ Is Possible
–‘We’ve Seen Some Positive News Lately’ On Economy
–Obama Didn’t Signal Desire To Tap Petroleum Reserve
By John Shaw
WASHINGTON (MNI) – House Speaker John Boehner said again Thursday
that he is encouraged by a congressional leadership meeting with
President Obama Wednesday, adding he believes it will be possible to
find “common ground” with the president this year on some energy and
jobs legislation.
“We had a very positive lunch at the White House,” Boehner said at
a briefing, adding there are a number of energy and jobs bills that
Republicans passed in the House that could be considered and approved by
the Senate.
House Republicans have assembled a six-bill package of small
business bills that it will consider next week and presumably pass and
send to the Senate.
These bills would allow privately held companies to advertise for
investors; allow companies to sell up to $2 million in securities,
limited to $1,000 per buyer, without registering at the SEC; increase
from $5 million in shares to $50 million the annual public authoring
threshold under which companies are exempt from filing requirements;
exempt companies with up to 1,000 shareholders from mandatory SEC
registration; phase-in regulatory requirements for companies going
public; and exempt banks with fewer than 2,000 shareholders from
registering with the SEC.
Boehner said the economic outlook in the U.S. has brightened in
recent months, but added that rising gas prices have “overshadowed” some
of this good news.
“We’ve seen some positive news lately,” Boehner said, referring to
the economy.
Boehner said the meeting at the White House Wednesday included a
discussion of energy issues in general and gas prices in particular.
He said it “did not appear” that Obama supports tapping the
strategic petroleum reserve because he doubts it would have a “meaningful
effect” in driving gas prices down.
** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **
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