Webb decries Obama's plan to raise taxes for jobs bill

By: Andrew Cain
Published: September 18, 2011

Webb decries Obama's plan to raise taxes for jobs bill

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., did not mince words last week when Politico asked him about President Barack Obama's plans to pay for his jobs plan by raising taxes on the wealthy and on corporations.

"Terrible," Webb said. "We shouldn't increase taxes on ordinary income. … There are other ways to get there."

According to the Associated Press, the president would fund the jobs plan through these means:
$405 billion from limiting the itemized deductions for charitable contributions and other deductions that can be taken by individuals making more than $200,000 a year and families making more than $250,000;
$41 billion from closing loopholes for oil and gas companies;
$18 billion from requiring fund managers to pay higher taxes on certain income; and
$3 billion from changing the tax treatment of corporate jets.

Andrew Cain

Assembly's black caucus to make housing a top priority

The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus says it will make housing a top priority in the 2012 General Assembly session.

"As a caucus, with members from every corner of the commonwealth, we've seen how housing continues to hold back robust recovery," said Sen. Mamie E. Locke, D-Hampton, chairwoman of the caucus.

"With the homebuyer market in crisis, new pressure on rental housing is driving up rents and pushing housing out of reach for many workers."

Among other initiatives, the caucus says its agenda will include legislation to create a Virginia Housing Trust Fund "to enable a consistent source of 'gap' financing for affordable housing development."

Andrew Cain

Connolly not sold on claim about snakes, business

Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, D-11th, wasn't charmed last week when the House Oversight and Reform Committee heard from a snake breeder.

Wednesday's hearing was titled "How a Broken Process Leads to Flawed Regulations." Among others, the witnesses at the hearing on Capitol Hill included the director of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, a flight attendant and David Barker, a member of the U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers.

Barker said he is co-founder of a business "that specializes in the research and captive propagation of pythons and boas." He testified that a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to list nine species of constricting snakes on the Injurious Wildlife List would hurt small businesses.

"It will criminalize virtually 90 percent of my sales and affect a regulatory taking of my breeding stock and equipment," he told the committee. "In short, if this rule goes into effect, it will destroy my life's work and investments for no rational reason."

In a news release titled "Snakes on a Plane," Connolly said Burmese pythons "are breeding rapidly, overrunning the Everglades, eating every animal in sight, including large alligators, and establishing a permanent habitat in South Florida, according to the National Park Service."

He added: "I think the (GOP) majority is peddling a bit of snake oil here. But it has nothing to do with jobs."

Andrew Cain