Inflation Reduction Act passes the Senate
On Aug. 7, the Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act—after a 15-hour marathon session to consider dozens of amendments—on a party line vote of 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie. This legislation was a huge win for the Democratic party and its efforts to lower prescription drug prices, provide Affordable Care Act subsidies and provide new spending for climate and energy initiatives, including energy and efficiency provisions of interest to the roofing industry.
To pay for hundreds of billions of new spending, the bill puts in place a 15% corporate minimum tax on large corporations; increased IRS enforcement; a two-year extension of existing limits on how certain businesses can write off their losses; and a 1% excise tax on stock buybacks. The balance of these provisions also provides deficit reduction—a key provision to win the support of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a chief architect of the bill. Two amendments were adopted during Senate debate; one exempts businesses owned by private equity from the new minimum tax, and the other is an exemption for accelerated depreciation. This legislation moves to the House of Representatives, where we anticipate it will pass Aug. 12.
NRCA was successful in keeping out many of the most harmful tax increases for the roofing industry but remains concerned about the two-year extension on loss limitation rules, as well as the potential that increased IRS enforcement could target small businesses for honest mistakes in an overly complicated tax code.
Results of recent primary elections
Although Washington’s primary was held Aug. 2, the state’s system takes a bit longer to tally. Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse, a ROOFPAC-supported candidate, made it to the general election. And on Aug. 9, incumbent Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler conceded in her primary after failing to be one of the top two vote-getters. Currently, Newhouse and Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) are the only House Republican members to win their primaries after voting to impeach former President Trump.
In Wisconsin, the Senate primary was a given with incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson winning on the Republican side and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes winning on the Democrat side. This Senate race will be watched closely, and ROOFPAC continues to support Johnson as an ardent fighter for the business community. The Republican gubernatorial primary race was a close one with construction businessman Tim Michels winning. Michels will face incumbent Gov. Tony Evers. Another interesting race is the contest to replace retiring congressman Ron Kind (D-Wis.); Derrick Van Orden won the Republican primary, and it appears Sen. Brad Pfaff will win the Democratic primary.
In Minnesota, a special election was held concurrently with a primary for November to fill a House seat held by the late Rep. Jim Hagedorn. Brad Finstad won the special election and will be sworn in shortly but will face off again in November against Jeff Ettinger. The special election matchup was separated by just 5,000 votes.
Vermont is poised to send the first woman and openly gay representative to Washington after the state’s president pro tempore Becca Balint won the Democratic primary for the at-large House seat.
Upcoming primary elections
Aug. 13: Hawaii
Aug. 16: Alaska, Wyoming
Aug. 23: Florida, New York
