Latest news with #JointCommittee
India Gazette
4 days ago
- Politics
- India Gazette
Former CJIs DY Chandrachud, JS Kehar to interact with JPC on One Nation One Poll on July 11
New Delhi [India], June 26 (ANI): The Joint Committee on the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, will meet on July 11, 2025, at Parliament House Annexe in New Delhi, featuring interactions with legal experts and former officials. Sitting of the Joint Committee on the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024. Members are informed that the next sitting of the Joint Committee on the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, will now be held on July 11. The agenda of the Meeting is interaction with Justice JS Kehar, former Chief Justice of India, on the said Bills. Interaction with Justice DY Chandrachud, former Chief Justice of India, on the said Bills. Interaction with Dr EM Sudarsana Natchiappan, former Rajya Sabha Member, former Chairman of the Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice and Senior Advocate on the said Bills. Interaction with Dr Veerappa Moily, former Chief Minister of Karnataka, former Union Minister, former Chairman, 2nd Administrative Reforms Committee and former Chairman, Parliamentary Committee on Finance on the said Bills. Earlier, Chairperson of JPC, ONOE, PP Chaudhary, held discussions with various stakeholders in five states, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh (Union Territory) over the issue of One Nation One Election. Meetings were held in Delhi, during which we had interactions with former CJIs UU Lalit, Ranjan Gogoi, former chief justices of various high courts and others. Earlier, while speaking to ANI exclusively, PP Choudhary said, The committee believes that it should visit all states and hear their opinions, which is why the tour is being organised. Reacting to the website launch, PP Chaudhary told ANI earlier that there should be 'transparency' and the entire Committee has agreed on this. 'There should be transparency. The entire Committee has agreed that we must keep transparency. The website will facilitate opinions from all the stakeholders. The committee took decisions on two major things, the advertisement will be printed in all languages so that all stakeholders can give their opinions.' 'Secondly, the website will facilitate inputs from all stakeholders... This is being examined by the Secretary General... The development of technology is taking time to ensure the website doesn't crash... The website will be launched soon with a QR code facility. Suggestions will be collected, and Parliamentarians will review them,' he added. He further remarked that everyone has different opinions. 'There could be different opinions in the Committee time will come when all the members will agree to it because all the leaders think for the nation and will agree over it for the nation's interest,' he said. (ANI)
The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Parliamentary schedule for Thursday June 26
We will be covering the House of Commons and House of Lords throughout the day. All timings approximate and subject to business. House of Commons:0930 Transport questions1030 Business questions to Commons Leader Lucy Powell1130 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) (No. 2) Bill: second and third readingGeneral debate on armed forces dayAn adjournment debate on potential merits of floating solar panels Westminster Hall:1330 Select committee statement from Joint Committee on human rights1350 IVF egg donation in young women1510 Funding of the BBC World Service House of Lords:1100 Oral questions1150 Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill – committee stage (day one)
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Republican Move to Mask $3.8 Trillion Tax-Cut Cost Rings Alarms
(Bloomberg) -- Senate Republicans are aiming to wipe away some $3.8 trillion of federal budget red ink from the GOP's signature tax-and-spending bill with an unprecedented parliamentary maneuver, stoking concerns about long-term US fiscal policy. Bezos Wedding Draws Protests, Soul-Searching Over Tourism in Venice US State Budget Wounds Intensify From Trump, DOGE Policy Shifts Commuters Risk Lives in Johannesburg With Taxi Groups at War Republicans are using a fast-track legislative process known as reconciliation, which will allow them to make President Donald Trump's 2017 income-tax cuts permanent without Democratic support. The cost of such legislation has long been measured by comparing it to what would otherwise happen to the federal budget under the current law. Senate Republicans want to start with a different assumption: that the current policy remains in place indefinitely. In that case, extending the 2017 tax cuts beyond 2025 wouldn't add anything to federal deficits — because they're simply maintaining the status quo. The Joint Committee on Taxation tallied a $3.8 trillion hit to deficits from keeping the 2017 rates in place another decade. If successful, the maneuver would upend decades of precedent by sweeping away rules aimed at making it harder for legislators to do permanent damage to fiscal balances. Economists warn it would set a dangerous precedent for future legislation, by allowing the majority party to enact what appears to be a temporary measure and then later setting it in stone without an official cost. 'It immediately undercuts a lot of the benefit of reconciliation from the perspective of folks who are worried about deficit-finance changes,' said Garrett Watson, director of policy analysis at the Tax Foundation, a policy think tank. 'That's why there are those limitations that are currently put in place.' Borrowing Burden Watson said making the 2017 tax cuts permanent would slightly increase long-run economic growth, but that would not offset the cost and 'doesn't come close to solving the debt problem.' A preliminary analysis from the Tax Foundation found the Senate bill would cost $3.9 trillion over a decade, after accounting for economic impacts. The latest estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office showed the House-passed version of the bill would add, in total, $2.8 trillion to deficits over a decade. The Senate is seeking to pass its version this week, though the date may slip. The Joint Committee on Taxation scored that chamber's tax portion of the bill as adding $441 billion to deficits over a decade if using the GOP assumption that extending the 2017 reductions is costless. Even leaving current deficits in place, the US is already heading for a record debt-to-gross domestic product ratio in coming years. A parliamentary shift that reduces the legislative barrier to increased borrowing threatens to worsen the trajectory, and erode investor confidence in longer-term US Treasuries. 'The key principle in budget accounting is all costs need to be counted at some point,' said Brendan Duke, senior director for federal fiscal policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank. The move would 'ensure that the cost of the tax cuts for 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029 and so on never gets counted.' The Senate official with the job of deciding what's allowed in the reconciliation bill, Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, hasn't yet made clear whether the 'current policy baseline' is in line with budget rules. But she previously said it could be used in the budget-resolution outline the passed the Senate earlier this year. 'Spending Problem' Republicans argue that taxes aren't the cause of US deficits, which amount to a 'spending problem.' The GOP chair of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, Mike Crapo, said in a June 22 statement, 'Extending the Trump tax cuts prevents a $4 trillion tax increase — this is not a change in current tax policy or tax revenue.' There are still provisions in underlying reconciliation legislation — such as a ban against raising deficits after 10 years — that Democrats argue require the use of a 'current law' baseline. The Senate tax cuts are likely to violate that rule, analysts say. The Senate draft includes much of the House-passed provisions, with a few changes. The Senate version makes permanent three business tax breaks, pares back breaks for workers and includes deeper cuts to Medicaid. The cap for federal deductions for state and local taxes is also expected to be pared back from the $40,000 limit set in the House bill. The move could set a precedent to reap additional tax-cut benefits in the future. The Senate bill limits tax breaks on tipped wages and overtime pay to four years in order to keep down the bill's price tag. Under a current policy baseline, Congress could extend those levy reductions indefinitely for no cost in the future. Marc Goldwein, senior policy director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a centrist fiscal watchdog group, raised concerns about handing Congress a way to easily enact tax cuts without reckoning with the true cost. 'All of a sudden, the door is open to a lot of other very expensive policies,' Goldwein said. While Republicans might feel good for now as they push the bill, 'they haven't fully thought about what's going to happen when the shoe's on the other foot' and Democrats are in the majority, he said. --With assistance from Erik Wasson. Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028? Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros Can 'MAMUWT' Be to Musk What 'TACO' Is to Trump? What Mike Tyson and the Bond Market Can Teach Trump on Debt ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Divided Oregon panel sends massive transportation funding bill to House floor
Oregon Department of Transportation workers fill a pothole on U.S. Highway 97 near Chemult in 2016 (Oregon Department of Transportation/Flickr) Oregon's long-awaited transportation funding bill is headed to the House floor, but it remains to be seen whether it will make it to the end of the legislative session without running out of gas. The 12-member Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment voted 7-5 along party lines Friday to advance an amended version of House Bill 2025, a plan to generate nearly $14.6 billion over the next 10 years with new and higher taxes and fees to fund the Oregon Department of Transportation and transportation needs throughout the state. Supporters say it's a way to reverse decades of underspending, caused by Oregonians paying far less than their neighbors in other western states in vehicle-related taxes. 'We can see the result of that disinvestment in our road system every day, when we see the potholes on our streets, the bridges that now are weight-limited so trucks cannot go over them, which affects our economy,' said Sen. Khanh Phạm, D-Portland. 'We see that in the exploding traffic fatalities when county roads can't even afford a shoulder, when kids can't even bike and walk to school, and we have parents in my district who are crying every day because of the injuries and and the fatalities that are happening.' The bill now moves to a vote by the full Oregon House. It would need to pass both the House and Senate by Sunday June 29, the final possible day of the legislative session. But the measure's path forward is more of a steep, curving, poorly maintained mountain road than a smooth stretch of highway. Republicans remain strongly opposed to it, as do some Democrats. 'These are massive, massive tax increases, and ultimately, I think they're going to be dangerous to our economy,' Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, said before voting against the bill. 'I understand that there is a need for long-term funding for our state for highways and highways, and this Republican was willing to negotiate how and where we raise those additional taxes as additional fees.' Under House Bill 2025, fees and taxes would rise to pay for $14.6 billion in transportation costs over the next 10 years: State gas tax would go from $0.40 to $0.55 per gallon, starting with a 10-cent increase in January 2026 and additional 5-cent increase in 2028. Diesel would also be taxed at the same rate as regular gasoline. Vehicle registration fees would rise from $43 to $113 for passenger vehicles; $44 to $110 for mopeds and motorcycles and $63 to $129 for low-speed vehicles, medium-speed electric vehicles and light trailers. Title fees would increase from $77 to $182 for new titles. A new transfer tax on cars 26,000 pounds or less, and sold for more than $10,000, would be taxed at 2% if new, or 1% if used. Transit payroll taxes would go up from 0.1% to 0.18% starting in 2026, then increase to 0.25% in 2028 and 0.3% in 2030. Privilege tax and commensurate use tax would rise from 0.5% to 1% percent of the sales price of a vehicle. A privilege tax is a tax for the privilege of selling vehicles in Oregon, and the use tax applies to vehicles purchased from dealers outside of Oregon that are required to be registered and titled in Oregon. Road usage fee or per-mile fee for EV drivers would be required. Electric vehicle drivers could elect to pay a $340 annual fee or a per-mile road usage charge. Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, on Friday removed Sen. Mark Meek, a Gladstone Democrat opposed to the measure, from the committee and took his place. Wagner, who voted for the measure, said committee members led by co-chairs Rep. Susan McLain, D-Forest Grove and Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Gresham, had worked hard and produced something they could be proud of. Meek, who remained sitting at the committee dais, said he would have been willing to vote for a tax increase and to spend the entire weekend working on a compromise, but that it was 'fundamentally flawed' in its current form. 'I was removed from this committee because I'm gonna be a 'no,'' Meek said. 'I will be a 'no' on the Senate floor if this is the version that comes across, and you will see what happens.' Rep. Annessa Hartman, D-Gladstone, shared a message to her Instagram story criticizing Wagner's move as 'absolutely ridiculous' on Friday. 'We are here to elevate the voices of our constituents and we are saying NO to insane tax increases!! And this is what happens! Shame,' Hartman wrote over a picture of a memo about Wagner replacing Meek. Any measures to create new taxes or increase existing ones require support from at least 36 representatives and 18 senators. Democrats hold exactly 36 and 18 seats, meaning they would need united caucuses if no Republicans support the measure. The bill, which lawmakers dubbed the Transportation Reinvestment Package, or TRIP, aims to provide the state transportation agency with funding needed to avoid a $350 million deficit in the year ahead and to avoid laying off up to 1,000 employees that agency officials earlier this year suggested would be necessary to remain solvent. Meanwhile, Republicans opposed to the bill have begun leveraging it to raise money for political campaigns — 'TRIP is a TRAP!' the Oregon Republican Party declared in a fundraising email this week. Republicans including former Sen. Brian Boquist, who represented Dallas and was a key player in crafting the 2017 transportation package, are preparing to refer the new fees and taxes to the ballot. The bill does not include an emergency clause that would make it effective immediately upon passage, so Republicans would have 90 days to raise the 78,000 signatures needed to refer it to the November ballot. Anticipating such a referral, the House voted 31-18 Friday to pass House Bill 3390, allowing the Legislature to choose ballot language if any laws they pass this year are referred to voters. House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby, told Oregon Public Broadcasting on Tuesday that Republicans would also consider a walkout over tax increases. Because Oregon is one of only a handful of states that require two-thirds of lawmakers to form a quorum, Republicans who hold 12 seats in the 30-member Senate and 24 in the 60-member House can stop the Legislature from functioning by skipping floor sessions as a group. Voters in 2022 sought to stop walkouts by passing a measure that punishes any lawmakers with 10 or more unexcused absences by blocking them from running for reelection, but there are fewer than 10 days left in the session. Drazan submitted her own proposal late Tuesday, while the committee was already discussing four new amendments added by Democrats within an hour of the meeting's start. Her proposal is a replica of an earlier Republican proposal, House Bill 3982, which avoids taxes and instead redirects funding from climate initiatives, public transit and passenger rail services, bicycle programs and payroll taxes. Republicans on the committee sought unsuccessfully to adopt Drazan's amendment on Friday. Rep. Kevin Mannix, a Salem Republican who worked more closely with Democrats than most other Republicans, said neither Drazan's proposal nor the Democratic proposal were perfect. The Democratic proposal is 'grossly obese' and Drazan's amendment is 'too thin,' Mannix said. 'So what sort of choices do you make? Well, if you've got something that's slim and thin, you can add some weight to it over time,' he said. Republicans also failed to adopt another amendment Mannix offered that would have had smaller tax increases, which Mannix described as a compromise. Rep. Mark Gamba, D-Milwaukie, and Phạm, two of the most progressive members of the Legislature, had introduced their own amendments that would have included significantly higher taxes than any other proposal. Gamba said 'That is the amendment that puts us between the two pretty broadly spread ends of the spectrum here, at one end, attempting to get us back to parity with most of the rest of western United States, and at the other end, attempting to erode our system even further,' Gamba said. 'I think the (co-chairs' amendment) does find the sort of sweet middle.' Revenue collected from vehicle use fees, state gas tax, titling and registration must go to the state highway fund for roads and bridges under the Oregon Constitution. That means the bulk of money in this bill is for vehicle infrastructure. Specific projects that would be funded with the revenue by 2027 include the Interstate 5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project in Portland's Albina neighborhood, upgrading the Abernethy Bridge and widening Interstate 205 in the Portland metro area, improving the Newberg-Dundee bypass in Yamhill County, and upgrading a Salem bridge off Center Street and State Highway 22 to make it strong enough to endure earthquakes. When it comes to aging bridges, Oregon Department of Transportation Director Kris Strickler said Tuesday the funding will help pay for more bridge replacements per year. Most bridges built in Oregon can only be replaced every 900 years given the agency's current budget — about three a year. Under House Bill 2025 funding, 'by the time you get to 2029-31, it's roughly a 550- to 600-year replacement cycle. We're able to pick up two to three more bridges a year, which is significant,' he said. The bill would provide counties an average of 40% more money for transit projects, according to Mallorie Roberts, a lobbyist for the Association of Oregon Counties and the Oregon Association of County Engineers and Surveyors. She said it would allow counties to invest in long-overdue capital projects on roads and transportation infrastructure rather than just operations and maintenance. Taxes on car and bike sales and payroll taxes are allowed to go to pedestrian pathways, bike trails and rail transit. The privilege taxes on new car sales would provide an extra $1 million per year in funding for bike and pedestrian pathways. Additional revenue from the higher payroll tax would provide up to $400 million per year in new funding for rail operations and projects. The package includes the directive to undertake a number of studies, including a study of the costs and benefits of providing all Oregonians 22-years or younger with free access to public transit, and the costs and benefits of expanding the Westside Express Service, a commuter rail line serving parts of Portland, Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville, to include Salem and Eugene. Seven years ago, lawmakers poured more than $5 billion into the Oregon Department of Transportation to improve roads, bridges and public transit. Some of those projects have been criticized for being ineffective, and investigations by the Malheur Enterprise and the Capital Chronicle found two rail centers meant for cargo shipments that cost taxpayers $70 million are still nonoperational. Between 2019 and 2025, transportation officials agreed to $296 million in voluntary budget cuts, Strickler told lawmakers Tuesday. Strickler said they have been paying for those cuts in employee morale. 'I would not be telling the full truth if I didn't say that the funding issue looming over us was significant on the morale of the agency,' he said. The agency and its director would also undergo more regular scrutiny from the Legislature and the governor under House Bill 2025, which would restore her power to hire and fire the head of the transportation department — a decision that has since 2017 been up to the Oregon Transportation Commission. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Arab News
19-06-2025
- Business
- Arab News
OPEC+ has proven to be oil market's central bank, says Saudi energy minister
RIYADH: OPEC+ has proven to be the 'central bank' and regulator of the global oil market, providing much-needed stability, Saudi Arabia's energy minister said. Speaking at the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman praised the alliance's role in balancing oil markets amid global economic uncertainties. 'I would have to say that OPEC+ had proven to be an instrument that if it wasn't invented by us and Russia and our colleagues, it should have been invented a long time ago because this is what OPEC+ had achieved in terms of bringing stability to the market and had proven that it is the central bank and the regulator of oil markets,' the energy minister said. Prince Abdulaziz also highlighted the ongoing partnership between Saudi Arabia and Russia through the Saudi-Russian Joint Committee, noting plans for Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak to visit the Kingdom later this year with a high-level business delegation. 'I'm looking forward to host Alexander — the co-chair of our joint committee — to Saudi Arabia this year, with the biggest, most sizable business community participation,' he said. Prince Abdulaziz emphasized that the collaboration seeks to deepen bilateral economic ties and foster diversified investment opportunities. 'We have a lot to showcase that bonding together. It will allow us to have a much more diversified relationship, and we are, as a government, working together to provide the right environment for those who want to invest in Saudi Arabia or in Russia or in any type or form of joint venturing that we should facilitate that and ensure that the investment environment is congenial for it to happen,' he added. The minister described the energy alliance as a flexible mechanism responsive to changing global conditions, reaffirming Saudi Arabia's commitment to cooperation with partners to maintain market stability. Acknowledging the challenges facing Russia, Prince Abdulaziz noted the Kingdom's support amid external restrictions. 'It's been a challenging time what Russia is going through, but we have shown a great deal of understanding of the situation, and we're trying to maneuver with the restrictions that are existing today,' he said. 'That has been the discharge of our leadership willingness to accommodate with this current situation and hopefully helping to support Russia in mitigating these exterior most daunting issues.' On whether Saudi Arabia and Russia would compensate for any loss of Iranian crude supplies, the minister stressed that such scenarios are hypothetical and that OPEC+ decisions are collective. 'You give me a question that is not evidently seen happening, I don't have an answer for you. Again, we only react to realities. But if anybody gives a question that is not relating to the reality today, I fail to see where we could predict things and how we would relate to it,' he said. The minister clarified that OPEC+ consists of 22 member states and is not dominated by Saudi Arabia and Russia alone. A core group of eight countries is tasked with engaging the full membership to ensure coordinated responses to market changes. 'To respond to a hypothetical question by giving a hypothetical answer, which none of us two here have the right to speak on behalf of everybody without knowing their opinion, is too much of an ask,' he added. He concluded by highlighting OPEC+'s reputation as a reliable and adaptive organization. 'What we know and what Alexander was saying just a while ago is that we have, as OPEC even before, an OPEC+ attending to so many circumstances since its first, it was in sequence, even inception, that we have been a reliable organization, a serious organization, an effective organization, and attentive to circumstances when they prevail,' he said.
