Obama will call on Congress to pass new tax

Copyright (c) 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.The president will outline the proposal in the course of a speech on the fiscal method in Cleveland Wednesday.

The official estimated the ultimate value to taxpayers a lot more than 10 numerous several years would be $30 billion, with most of the money lost in tax income being recouped as the fiscal method strengthens.

Many million people and 1.5 million enterprises would benefit from the tax breaks, said the administration official, who spoke on the concern of anonymity basically simply because the formal announcement has not been created.

An administration official pointed out the tax breaks would conserve enterprises $200 billion much more than two a extended time, making it achievable for firms to have much much more dollars on hand. The proposals would wants congressional approval, which is hugely uncertain offered Washington's partisan environment. In addition to the enterprise price tax breaks, he will also call for a $50 billion infrastructure cost and a permanent enlargement of investigation and advancement tax credits for companies.

Even if legislators could pass some of the proposals in the quick window in in between their return to Capitol Hill in mid-September and the elections, it's unlikely the efforts would substantially activate the fiscal system by November.

Amid an uptick in unemployment to 9.six p.c, and polls displaying that the November election could be dismal for Democrats, Obama has promised to propose new actions to activate the fiscal process.
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BP is warning Congress on Drilling

The company says a ban would also imperil the ambitious Gulf Coast restoration efforts that officials want the company to voluntarily support.

BP executives insist that they have not backed away from their commitment to the White House to set aside $20 billion in an escrow fund over the next four years to pay damage claims and government penalties stemming from the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. The explosion killed 11 workers and spewed millions of barrels of oil into the gulf.

The company has also agreed to contribute $100 million to a foundation to support rig workers who have lost their jobs because of the administration’s deepwater drilling moratorium. And it pledged $500 million for a 10-year research program to study the impact of the spill.

But as state and federal officials, individuals and businesses continue to seek additional funds beyond the minimum fines and compensation that BP must pay under the law, the company has signaled its reluctance to cooperate unless it can continue to operate in the Gulf of Mexico. The gulf accounts for 11 percent of its global production.

“If we are unable to keep those fields going, that is going to have a substantial impact on our cash flow,” said David Nagle, BP’s executive vice president for BP America, in an interview. That, he added, “makes it harder for us to fund things, fund these programs.”

The requests keep coming for BP to provide additional money to the Gulf Coast to help mitigate the effects of the spill. This week, Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, reiterated his request that BP finance a five-year, $173 million program to test, certify and promote gulf seafood.

BP has already agreed to pay for some measures that exceed its legal obligations. For instance, to help promote tourism in affected regions, it donated $32 million to Florida’s marketing efforts and $15 million each to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

But the company, which is based in London, now appears to be using such voluntary payments as a bargaining chip with American lawmakers.

BP is particularly concerned about a drilling overhaul bill passed by the House on July 30. The bill includes an amendment that would bar any company from receiving permits to drill on the Outer Continental Shelf if more than 10 fatalities had occurred at its offshore or onshore facilities. It would also bar permits if the company had been penalized with fines of $10 million or more under the Clean Air or Clean Water Acts within a seven-year period.

While BP is not mentioned by name in the legislation, it is the only company that currently meets that description.

The provision was written by Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, who is a strong environmental advocate and a close ally of Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker.

It was specifically designed to punish BP for its past transgressions, including the Deepwater Horizon explosion, and deny the company access to American offshore oil and natural gas.

“The risk of having a dangerous company like BP develop new resources in the gulf is too great,” said Daniel Weiss, Mr. Miller’s chief of staff. “Year after year after year, no matter how many incidents they’re involved in, no matter how many fines they’ve had to pay, they never changed their behavior. BP has no one to blame but themselves.”

BP’s concerns are becoming public as the company begins final preparations for permanently sealing its stricken well. On Thursday, it removed the temporary cap on top of the well, which had earlier been blocked with cement, so that it could replace the blowout preventer. The blowout preventer, a massive piece of equipment whose valves failed to shut down the oil flow after the explosion, is a crucial piece of evidence in the investigation.

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Brake Down on South Carolina Coast By Earl

Dare and Hyde Counties in North Carolina said their schools will close today and tomorrow. Evacuations were ordered for Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands in the Outer Banks yesterday. North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell have both declared a state of emergency.

Earl was 410 miles south of Cape Hatteras moving north- northwest at 18 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory at 5 a.m. Miami time. The storm’s winds, already the strongest of the Atlantic season, accelerated from 140 mph three hours earlier. Hurricane-force winds are forecast to hit North Carolina tonight as Earl passes near the Outer Banks before scraping Cape Cod and hitting Nova Scotia at the weekend.

“On the track that we’re forecasting, there will be a significant impact to the Outer Banks,” Todd Kimberlain, a hurricane specialist at the center, said today in a telephone interview. “They have less than 24 hours before the arrival of hurricane conditions. There isn’t a whole lot more time, and conditions are going to deteriorate throughout the day.”

Hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings now stretch from North Carolina to Maine in the U.S. and Nova Scotia in Canada. Hurricane watches were issued today in Massachusetts for north of Sagamore Beach to Plymouth and west of Woods Hole to Westport. A tropical storm warning was issued for a portion of New York’s Long Island.

Nantucket Threatened

A hurricane warning, meaning winds of at least 74 mph are expected, is in effect from Bogue Inlet, North Carolina, to the Virginia state line, according to the center. The center’s forecast map shows Earl tracking northeast after brushing North Carolina, coming close to New England late tomorrow.

“It wouldn’t take much of a deviation for the core of the hurricane to be very close to Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and maybe even Cape Cod,” Kimberlain said.

The hurricane is expected to pass about 50 miles from Nantucket, according to the National Weather Service website.

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