Levin Fights Repatriation Tax Breaks

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) told reporters Tuesday that tax cuts for offshore US companies will stifle job creation, deficit reduction, and tax equality

Levin cited a recent report, released by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations examining the top U.S multinational corporations that repatriated the most funds in response to 2004 legislation granting a “tax holiday.” With regards to employment, these companies, Levin stated, “reduced their overall workforce by nearly 21,000 jobs” since 2004.

For example, Oracle, who benefited the most from these tax cuts, reported increased employment with their repatriated funds when in fact the company used the money saved to buy two companies and then proceeded to eliminate thousands of jobs.  Oracle reported the remaining employees of those two companies as increased employment within the company.

Instead of companies increasing research investments, the report found that the top 15 companies, which received $155 billion in repatriated funds in 2005 and 2006, showed no change in net research investments and in fact decreased funding for two years.

The original repatriation tax bill allows US companies to return offshore earnings to America at an extremely low tax rate, in the hopes of spurring research investments and increasing employment.

Proponents of the current 5.25% tax break point to an initial boost in fiscal year budget as proof of the bill’s benefits.  However, the report found that compared to a normal tax rate of 10.5%, the Federal fiscal year budget, by year ten, would lose at least 37 billion dollars in tax revenue.

In addition, The 2004 law prohibited using repatriated dollars on stock buybacks or executive compensation yet the the top 5 executives at these companies increased their salaries by 27% from 2004-2005 and 30% from 2005-2006.

Gingrich Wants Gary Johnson At The GOP Debate

Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is urging the Washington Post and Bloomberg news to invite longshot candidate Gary Johnson to Tuesday evening’s GOP debate.

“Fairness requires Gov. Johnson to be included in tomorrow’s debate,” Gingrich said in a Twitter post.

Johnson, the former Governor of New Mexico known for his libertarian stances, has been excluded from all but one of the Republican debates this campaign cycle. 

Elizabeth Warren Raises Over $3 Million

Elizabeth Warren, the likely Democratic candidate in Massachusetts’ Senate race, has raised an impressive $3.15 million in campaign funds since declaring her candidacy just six weeks ago.

According to Warren’s campaign, 96 percent of the donations were under $100 dollars and included donations from 11,000 Massachusetts residents.

Warren, a Harvard Law Professor, was the Obama administration’s initial choice to lead the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She withdrew her candidacy after strong Republican opposition.

Republican Scott Brown currently holds the seat.

Joe The Plumber Gearing Up For Congressional Race

Sam Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the plumber, has filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission for a Congressional campaign.

Wurzelbacher, who rose to prominence amid the 2008 campaign as a McCain ally, will be running in Ohio’s ninth district for the seat currently held by Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur.

In the prelude to the 2010 midterm elections, Wurzelbacher said he was considering hosting a run, but ultimately declined.

Dems Blast Romney's Foreign Policy Speech

Just hours after Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivered the first major foreign policy speech of the 2012 election season, Democrats attempted to counter the former Massachusetts Governor’s attempt to paint the President as weak.

“He mentioned … that he wanted clarity and resolve on the part of American foreign policy, ” former DNC Chair and retired Army Colonel Don Fowler said during a DNC conference call with reporters. “I doubt that al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden question President Obama’s resolve.”

Former Congressman Robert Wexler, the President of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, also took issue with Romney for questioning Obama’s treatment of Israel, pointing to the President’s decision to fight Palestinian attempts to gain statehood at the UN.

“There was nothing ambivalent about President Obama when he stood up against the entire world at the United Nations,” Wexler said, adding that the President also agreed to send bunker-buster bombs to Israel and helped orchestrate a rescue effort at Israel’s embassy in Egypt when it was under siege from protesters.

Romney delivered his speech Friday at the Citadel, a military college in South Carolina. The Republican frontrunner called for increased military spending and aggressively maintaining military dominance.