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LEGISLATIVE ALERT5/20/2010Call Your Representative Today and Tell Them to Support H.R. 4213Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin (D-MI) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) will release legislative text of the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, legislation to provide critical tax cuts and support for American workers through the end of this year. The legislation will:
- Provide a 6-month extension of the temporary increase to the Federal Medicaid Matching Rate (FMAP). These temporary increases were first enacted in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009 in response to the increased Medicaid caseloads and decreasing state revenues resulting from the recession. The increase is scheduled to expire on December 31, 2010. The bill would extend these increases for 6 months, through June 30, 2011.
- Extend the TANF jobs and emergency fund to help States with increasing expenditures on: basic assistance for families in the TANF program; short-term, one-time aid for needy families; and subsidized employment programs. This emergency fund is now scheduled to expire on September 30, 2010, but the legislation would provide $2.5 billion to extend this fund through FY 2011.
- Support over 300,000 jobs for youth ages 16 to 21 through summer employment programs, who currently suffer from the highest unemployment levels in decades.
- Extend unemployment insurance through December 2010.
- Continue the current short-term "hold harmless" provision through 2010 (which ensures the current poverty line can be no lower than the poverty line in 2009).
- Extend premium assistance for COBRA benefits.
ACTION REQUIRED
Call your U.S. Representative. To be connected with your Representative, call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
THE MESSAGE
Support The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act because it provides additional funding for FMAP and Medicaid, which will largely preserve and protect critical health and social services.
BACKGOUND
The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act will be released as the House Amendment to the Senate Amendment to H.R. 4213. The original legislation, the Tax Extenders Act of 2009, passed the House of Representatives on December 9, 2009. The Senate passed a similar package, the American Workers, State and Business Relief Act, as an amendment to that bill on March 10, 2010. Baucus and Levin worked with House and Senate leadership and their colleagues to merge these two packages into the bill they will release later today. For a summary of legislation, click here.
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