The Legislative Process from http://www.whitehouse.gov/our-government/legislative-branch The first step in the legislative process is the introduction of a bill to Congress. Anyone can write it, but only members of Congress can introduce legislation. Some important bills are traditionally introduced at the request of the President, such as the annual federal budget. During the legislative process, however, the initial bill can undergo drastic changes. After being introduced, a bill is referred to the appropriate committee for review. There are 17 Senate committees, with 70 subcommittees, and 23 House committees, with 104 subcommittees. The committees are not set in stone, but change in number and form with each new Congress as required for the efficient consideration of legislation. Each committee oversees a specific policy area, and the subcommittees take on more specialized policy areas. For example, the House Committee on Ways and Means includes subcommittees on Social Security and Trade. A bill is first considered in a subcommittee, where it may be accepted, amended, or rejected entirely. If the members of the subcommittee agree to move a bill forward, it is reported to the full committee, where the process is repeated again. Throughout this stage of the process, the committees and subcommittees call hearings to investigate the merits and flaws of the bill. They invite experts, advocates, and opponents to appear before the committee and provide testimony, and can compel people to appear using subpoena power if necessary. If the full committee votes to approve the bill, it is reported to the floor of the House or Senate, and the majority party leadership decides when to place the bill on the calendar for consideration. If a bill is particularly pressing, it may be considered right away. Others may wait for months or never be scheduled at all. When the bill comes up for consideration, the House has a very structured debate process. Each member who wishes to speak only has a few minutes, and the number and kind of amendments are usually limited. In the Senate, debate on most bills is unlimited â Senators may speak to issues other than the bill under consideration during their speeches, and any amendment can be introduced. Senators can use this to filibuster bills under consideration, a procedure by which a Senator delays a vote on a bill â and by extension its passage â by refusing to stand down. A supermajority of 60 Senators can break a filibuster by invoking cloture, or the cession of debate on the bill, and forcing a vote. Once debate is over, the votes of a simple majority passes the bill. A bill must pass both houses of Congress before it goes to the President for consideration. Though the Constitution requires that the two bills have the exact same wording, this rarely happens in practice. To bring the bills into alignment, a Conference Committee is convened, consisting of members from both chambers. The members of the committee produce a conference report, intended as the final version of the bill. Each chamber then votes again to approve the conference report. Depending on where the bill originated, the final text is then enrolled by either the Clerk of the House or the Secretary of the Senate, and presented to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate for their signatures. The bill is then sent to the President.
Being this is now being considered an international/global thing, I wasn't so sure if Congress could still stop the U.S. from being involved in this, should Geithner/Obama agree with Britain, France and Germany to implement this tax on a global scale. It's good to know that Congress could still kill it.
Climate conference: 'Make bankers pay for deal' http://www.independent.co.uk/enviro...erence-make-bankers-pay-for-deal-1841970.html Mr Zenawi, who arrived in Copenhagen last night to represent the 53 member states of the African Union at the talks, suggested that much of the money could be raised by new taxes on aviation and shipping and an innovative global tax on all financial transactions â known as a "Tobin tax". Research has suggested that such a tax could raise up to $100bn a year. Mr Zenawi also wants a commitment to long-term finance, to 2020, above and beyond the $30bn "fast start" money for the next three years which the conference is likely to approve, and a further commitment to "additionality" â a guarantee that any promised climate cash will not come out of existing aid budgets. Mr Brown, who worked with Mr Zenawi when he was Chancellor on the Commission for Africa, accepted the plan with alacrity and issued a statement supporting it just before he left for Copenhagen himself, where he is to have talks with other world leaders over the next three days. "I believe these proposals offer a basis for agreement in Copenhagen on the difficult financing question which lies at the heart of the talks," he said.
I think what you're missing is that this $100K exemption is a yearly exemption. So basically you can trade 2 ES free. Every ES you trade after that for the rest of the year will cost you .25% per side. You trade one gold contract and you've used up the exemption. After that, .25% per side. OldTrader
Citigroup gains massive tax break in deal with IRS http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/15/AR2009121504534.html
"Obama, don't join the populist parade" http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=8EB508FA-18FE-70B2-A8F8E4B0803B86B8 -Guru
Got this really nice reply from my congressman on fancy Congressional stationary. Please find the link to the Green Tax teams petition and sign it and send to your Washington reps. It's easy to do and takes 2 minutes. It automatically generates letters to Senators and house reps. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ December 2, 2009 Dear Mr. (used real name), Thank you for contacting me to share your concerns about the Let Wall Street Pay for Wall Street's Bailout Act (H.R. 1068). I appreciate your comments and am grateful that you took the time to contact me. This bill would impose a 0.25% transaction tax on the "sale and purchase of financial instruments such as stock, options, and futures" with the proceeds being used to pay for the net cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and emergency initiatives pursued by the Federal Reserve. I believe that we owe it to the American taxpayer to closely watch how their money is being used and to assure them that it is neither wasted nor used for private benefit. The Congress has already approved a measure this year that will reform the TARP program and provide vigorous oversight over the use of TARP funds. Contrary to the TARP reform efforts that I have supported, I do not believe that this bill is appropriate in responding to the crisis at hand. It is an ill-timed tax on capital formation and could actually impair liquidity when the markets need it most. For these reasons, I will not support H.R. 1068, the Let Wall Street Pay for Wall Street's Bailout Act. If you have any additional questions regarding this or other issues, please do not hesitate to contact my office. You can sign up for my newsletter and find more information on my views and what I am working on in Congress by visiting my official website at www.house.gov/himes. Sincerely, Jim Himes Member of Congress
Very nice. I just read his bio & was surprised to see he ran as a Democrat & had a 12 year career with Goldman Sachs rising to the level of Vice President. Tide31, how about sending him an email asking if he would sign Carolyn Maloney's "Dear Colleague" letter criticizing the transaction tax.