Tax-Relief Bill Clears Congress

WASHINGTON -- A $6.1 billion tax-relief bill to aid in recovery from Hurricane Katrina cleared Congress on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported

The House gave its approval on a 422-0 vote, and the Senate sent it on to President Bush for his signature Wednesday night without a roll call.

The action came as House conservatives demanded dramatic savings at a news conference outside the Capitol: "Katrina's Red Ink Should Make Congress Think" read one sign held by supporters.

Anxious to reassert control, House leaders began promoting a strategy of expanding on a $35 billion five-year deficit-reduction package already promised under the budget resolution passed last spring.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., whose panel oversees a host of benefit programs, signaled that he is prepared to find more savings. As currently scheduled, the deficit-reduction package would come to the floor in late October, when the leadership also expects to be dealing with a third supplemental spending request from Bush for the reconstruction following Katrina.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 9/22/05