Renee Radcliff Sinclair
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

National debt went up by $166 billion in one day. The Washington Times reports, "The nation's debt leapt $166 billion in a single day last week, the third-largest increase in US history, and it comes at a time when Congress is balking over higher spending and debt has become a key policy battleground." The Times adds, "The one-day increase for June 30 totaled $165,931,038,264.30 -- bigger than the entire annual deficit for fiscal year 2007." Adds the Times, "The figure works out to nearly $1,500 for every US household, or more than 10 times the median daily household income".

Chamber's Donohue comments on Financial Reform Bill. In a Huffington Post commentary, Chamber president Tom Donohue wrote, "Just months after passing a tax-raising, job-killing health care bill, Congress is about to approve financial regulatory reform legislation that, ironically, lacks actual reform. ... This tsunami of new rules and studies will cause tremendous uncertainty, making it harder for businesses to raise capital, make investments, and create jobs. ... The Chamber believes that you can't have real reform without reforming the regulators. So it comes as a disappointment that the Dodd-Frank Act creates even more regulatory agencies on top of a fundamentally flawed, outdated system, instead of fixing the system itself."

Differences in immigration ideologies split both parties. According to the San Antonio Express-News, "President Barack Obama's immigration reform speech is the latest step in a political dance to appease activists in his Democratic Party base, but divisions among Republicans also pose problems as they look to coming elections. While Republican consultants advocate a more inclusive approach to attract Hispanics, politically powerful grass-roots groups want the GOP to embrace get-tough measures like that passed in Arizona. ... The US Chamber of Commerce and evangelical leaders, traditional Republican constituencies, have come out in favor of a more streamlined, humane legal immigration system -- and comprehensive reform that offers a path to citizenship to unauthorized immigrants."

Provision in healthcare law will increase costs for small businesses, charities. According to USA Today, "A little-known provision in the health care reform law could significantly increase tax recordkeeping requirements and costs for nearly 40 million self-employed workers, small businesses and charities, the IRS' national taxpayer advocate said Wednesday." As of "2012, self-employed workers, small businesses, charities and government agencies will be required to issue Form 1099s to every vendor from which they purchase more than $600 in goods during the year." Notably, "in an interview, IRS taxpayer advocate Nina Olson said the requirement could force small-business owners and charities to purchase new software and hire additional accounting services." She added, "I'm not sure that the information that we get from this will be so valuable that the burden it puts on taxpayers is justified."