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Democratic lawmakers wanted to use a year-end spending bill to punish U.S. companies that moved their tax addresses overseas by barring them from getting government contracts. It didnt work.

In the end, all the Democrats got was new language that may not affect any companies and a renewed provision that has proved ineffective in the past.

Its fairly watered down, Representative Ander Crenshaw, a Florida Republican, said of the corporate tax inversion language that applies across the U.S. government. Democrats wanted to strengthen that, and I think most people are happy that that didnt happen.

The policy is a victory for companies including Medtronic Inc. (MDT) and Tyco International Plc (TYC), which have millions of dollars in U.S. contracts and will be able to keep their business with the government. Medtronic is moving its tax address to Ireland next year and Tyco completed an inversion in 1997.

The language in the 1,603-page spending plan to fund the government represents the latest setback to Democrats efforts to prevent companies from inverting or punish them if they do. Inversion plans by companies such as Burger King Worldwide Inc. and Pfizer Inc. (PFE) have brought national attention to the issue.

Democrats including Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois have been trying to use tax law or contracting rules to curb the practice.

The spending bill, which will avert a government shutdown after funding expires this week, includes two limits on federal contracts to inverted companies.

The first continues an existing rule. Lawmakers prohibited some companies that had completed inversions from receiving contracts from the Department of Homeland Security starting in 2002, and temporarily expanded the ban across the federal government in 2007.

Similar one-year bans were enacted in four of the following six years.

That hasnt stopped some of the companies from winning U.S. government contracts by exploiting gaps in the rules.

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Inversion Curb Democrats Sought Watered Down in New Bill

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Washington (CNN) -- A backlash from Democrats over add-ons to a massive government spending bill is throwing passage of the measure into doubt and once again raising concerns about a government shutdown.

The House is slated to vote on the legislation Thursday, just hours before agencies run out of money.

The $1.1 trillion spending bill authorizes funding for virtually all agencies through September, but some Democrats on Capitol Hill are vowing to oppose the legislation, arguing that the addition of some key policy changes amount to a giveaway for big special interests. Congress must pass some type of legislation by Thursday at midnight to avert a shutdown.

READ: What's tucked into the spending bill

The top concerns from Democrats center on a proposal to ease banking regulations in the Dodd-Frank law and a measure that would allow wealthy donors to give considerably more money to the political parties.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the provisions were "destructive to middle class families and to the practice to our democracy" and demanded they be stripped out of the bill. Pelosi's position is critical because House Republicans need Democratic support for the measure to pass.

Though Republicans hold a significant majority in the House, Speaker John Boehner is expected to lose anywhere from 40 to 60 conservatives in his party who oppose the bill because it doesn't block the President's immigration executive action. Democrats will need to provide votes to offset those losses, setting up the sort of political brinksmanship that has become typical in Washington.

A shutdown remains unlikely because lawmakers could agree at the last minute to approve a bill that would keep the government running for a few months -- when Republicans will have full control of Congress.

House GOP aides say they are surprised Pelosi and others are lobbying for changes, since Democrats signed off on the bill before its release.

Continued here:
Democratic backlash throws spending bill in doubt

ObamaCare Disaster - Even Prominent Democrats are Now Getting Buyer #39;s Remorse

By: NFriction

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ObamaCare Disaster - Even Prominent Democrats are Now Getting Buyer's Remorse - Video

Gerrymandering: NC Democrats Get More Votes, Republicans Win 9 of 13 Seats
Gerrymandering: North Carolina Democrats received more votes but Republicans won 9 of 13 seats http://wunc.org/post/duke-mathematicians-investigate-2012-ele...

By: David Pakman Show

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Gerrymandering: NC Democrats Get More Votes, Republicans Win 9 of 13 Seats - Video

Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Congress will vote this week on a $1.1 trillion spending plan that would avert a U.S. government shutdown as Democrats agreed to roll back rules affecting banks, clean water and rest for truckers. Peter Cook reports on In The Loop. (Source: Bloomberg)

Congress will vote this week on a $1.1 trillion spending plan that would avert a U.S. government shutdown as Democrats agreed to roll back rules affecting banks, clean water and rest for truckers.

The House will vote on the plan tomorrow, Speaker John Boehner told reporters today. The Ohio Republican said he looks forward to it passing with bipartisan majorities in the House and the Senate in the coming days.

The deal was announced late yesterday after Democrats accepted Republican demands to ease regulations including the banking provision, a significant victory for big banks. It lets JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Citigroup Inc. (C) and other lenders keep swaps trading in units with federal backstops.

The measure is a compromise that can and should have wide bipartisan support, House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, a Kentucky Republican, said in a statement yesterday. Passage of this bill will show our people that we can and will govern responsibly.

While Democrats arent pleased about the policy changes, they said they beat back dozens of other provisions that Republicans had sought in the measure.

This agreement means no government shutdown and no government on autopilot, said Senate Appropriations Chair Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, a Democrat who negotiated the plan with Rogers.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, said earlier today that if the House included the District of Columbia marijuana provision in the bill, its going to be hard to take it out over here. But I oppose it. Close

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, said earlier today that if... Read More

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Democrats Resisting Policy Changes in Plan to Avoid Shutdown