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Minnesota GOP lawmakers played key roles this week in the successful effort by US House Republicans to pass a bill to raise the debt ceiling that would cut spending and break some of President Biden’s key initiatives.
The bill was approved Wednesday afternoon by 217 votes in favor and 215 in favour. Rep. George Santos, RNY, who said he wasn’t made up on the bill, was the last Republican to cast his vote, giving House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, D-Calif., a one-vote victory. It was also a win for Rep. Tom Emmer, the R-6y District, who with McCarthy’s whip worked hard to get all House Republicans to support the bill.
Eimer was largely successful, with only four Republican members of the House of Representatives—and all House Democrats—voting against the bill.
To quell a rebellion by some Midwestern Republicans, the Reduce, Save and Grow Act was changed to reinstate some tax credits for ethanol and biofuels that would have been stripped by the bill’s efforts to roll back green initiatives in the Inflation Control Act.
A $1 per gallon biodiesel and renewable diesel tax credit has been reissued, as well as a second-generation biofuel tax credit. Language that would have limited the carbon sequestration tax credit was removed. But the bill removed a biodiesel credit for aircraft, unless the airline had already entered into a fuel contract and removed another biodiesel tax credit that was included in the inflation control act.
Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-7y district, introduced an amendment in the rules committee that would have spared tax credits for ethanol and biofuels, as did Rep. Angie Craig, D-2Abbreviation II spend. representative. Brad Finstad, R-1street District, also opposed ending those tax breaks.
Brian Werner, executive director of the Minnesota Biofuels Association, said he reached out to Fischbach and Finstadt about the threat to the tax credits.
“We have expressed our concerns to them,” he said.
The only other last-minute change to the bill, which Emmer vowed would not be altered, was to amend the date it would impose new work requirements on Medicaid and food stamp recipients from 2025 to 2024 — an effort to appease the right of the Republican Party. wing.
The bill is seen as dead on its way to the Senate and seen as a high-risk effort to force Biden to negotiate spending cuts or risk a catastrophic debt default. Biden insists that Congress raise the debt limit without preconditions.
The nation is expected to reach its debt limit – the total amount of money the US government is allowed to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations – before the end of July. The nation actually reached the debt limit in January, but the Treasury Department used so-called extraordinary measures to prevent the government from defaulting. However, these measures can only last for a limited time.
The GOP debt reduction bill would raise the debt limit by $1.5 trillion, enough to delay a default until March next year, in return for cutting government spending by nearly 14% over a decade.
Minnesota Republicans welcomed the bill’s approval.
“Republicans are committed to reining in irresponsible spending in Washington and passing legislation that really helps Americans,” Fischbach said.
Rep. Pete Stober, R-8y “The ball is now in President Biden’s court to sit down with Speaker McCarthy and offer help to the American people,” said the District, whose legislation to speed up mine permits is included in the debt ceiling bill.
Meanwhile, Minnesota Democrats were firmly behind Biden’s rejection of McCarthy’s bid.
“The United States cannot default on our debt – but we also cannot accept the Republicans’ reckless plan” in the House of Representatives, Craig said. “This bill risks American jobs, our nation’s credit rating, hard-earned retirement savings, health care access and our entire economy.”
Rep. Betty McCollum D-4y District, said “Threatening to default on our existing debt obligations as a bargaining chip is fiscally irresponsible.”
“This bill is a ransom note demanding deep cuts that will hurt Americans across the country and put our economic recovery at risk — all while protecting billionaires and big corporations from paying their fair share in taxes,” McCollum said in a statement.
A 94-year-old Minnesota woman is getting her day in court
This week the Supreme Court appeared leaning toward agreement with a 94-year-old woman who said Hennepin County unfairly retained the property rights she owned in an apartment complex after the county sold it for back taxes.
The judges heard the oral arguments in Tyler v. Hennepin Countya case brought by property rights advocates who say the government’s forfeiture law is unconstitutional.
During lengthy oral arguments on Wednesday, the conservative and liberal justices seemed to agree.
“Are there limits?” Justice Elena Kagan asked. I mean, $5,000 in tax debt, $5 million for the house. Take home, don’t bring back the rest? “
Geraldine Tyler lived for a decade in a one-bedroom condominium in Hennepin County. But she left her home in 2010, in her 80s, to live in an apartment in a large community. While she lived in her own apartment, she paid her property taxes in a timely manner. But after she left, I stopped paying those taxes.
By 2015, Tyler’s delinquent property taxes totaled $2,311, and penalties, costs and interest added an additional $12,689, to a total property tax debt of $15,000. Hennepin County eventually acquired and sold Tyler’s apartment for $40,000, keeping all proceeds from the sale.
Minnesota and nine other states allow the sale of property for back taxes without compensating the owners for the “excess equity” that the sale would generate. In most states, the excess from these sales is returned to the owner.
The Supreme Court must now decide whether these states’ forfeiture laws violate the “forfeiture” clause of the US Constitution.
Tyler’s case attracted a broad coalition of ideological support for Tyler. Amicus briefs have been submitted by progressive groups, including the Constitutional Accountability Center and Public Citizen, as well as conservative property rights advocates such as the Cato Institute — which submits its brief jointly with the American Civil Liberties Union — and the United States Chamber of Commerce.
Even the Biden administration weighed in on Tyler’s side.
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