Congress Sends Corporate Tax Cut Bill to President

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers headed to their home states and districts yesterday after the Senate sent President Bush a $136 billion corporate tax cut and disaster aid bill on a 69-17 vote, which included the support of Senators Clinton and Schumer.Both New York senators have criticized deficit-funded tax cuts in recent weeks, and Mr. Schumer has been a fierce critic of ethanol subsidies included in the bill.Even so, they joined 67 of their Senate colleagues in passing a measure that cuts taxes for businesses ranging from large multinational corporations to dog tracks and bow-and-arrow makers. The measure also provides $14.5 billion in disaster relief that will primarily benefit Florida, a key state in the presidential elections.A White House official said the president is unlikely to veto the legislation.A spokesman for Mr. Schumer, Stu Loeser, said the senator voted for the bill in spite of the ethanol subsidies because “it included a number of things for New York.”He cited several upstate projects, including a provision for tax-free bonds that could be used to subsidize a 200-acre shopping and entertainment resort in Syracuse and tax breaks for Kodak and IBM, big New York employers.Clinton aides also defended the vote on the grounds that the measure benefits New York and will generate jobs.“While Senator Clinton is extremely disappointed that the Republicans prevented many of the Democratic efforts to improve this bill, especially her effort to convert the underutilized Liberty Zone tax incentives into $2 billion for New York City’s transportation needs, she believes that there are positive aspects of this legislation that will benefit New York State’s exporters, manufacturers, and small business owners,” spokesman Philippe Reines said.He added: “Senator Clinton is particularly proud of the fact that, along with Senator Schumer, she was able to secure provisions that will create thousands of new jobs and millions of dollars of direct new investment in New York State.”The Syracuse project Mr. Loeser cited is the $2.2-billion enterprise DestiNY USA, which will be powered entirely by renewable energy, including fuel made from soybeans. The New York senators co-sponsored an amendment to the bill allowing for tax-free green bonds for planned business projects that use renewable energy.DestiNY USA is the brainchild of Robert Congel, a major GOP fund-raiser who recently contributed to Senators Schumer and Clinton.Critics have slammed the corporate tax-cut bill as a pre-election, pork-filled measure that helps both parties in campaigns across the country, from Ohio and Wisconsin to the Deep South. The bill started out as a response to a World Trade Organization ruling that a $5 billion annual subsidy for American exporters was illegal. The measure brings U.S. exporters in line with international trade rules.“What was supposed to be a quick and minor fix of the tax code blossomed into a huge giveaway of tax benefits,” said Senator Durbin, a Democrat of Illinois.According to the Senate Finance Committee chairman, Charles Grassley, a Republican of Iowa, that description isn’t accurate. “Let the record show this bill is fair, this bill is balanced,” he said. Responding to critics who say the measure is laden with provisions for specific interests, Mr. Grassley said, “Well, that’s true. But that’s how the Senate works.

Congress Sends Corporate Tax Cut Bill to President

Congress Sends Corporate Tax Cut Bill to President

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