Roy Blunt: “the bill I hope we get to tonight is part of the President's jobs package. It would repeal an action taken by the…”

“the bill I hope we get to tonight is part of the President's jobs package. It would repeal an action taken by the Congress a few years ago that I think has proven to be a harmful decision on the part of the Federal Government. This would repeal the 3-percent withholding tax, which has a dramatic impact on anybody who does business with the government. That includes local governments and State governments and anyone who contracts with the government--and the government basically pays 97 percent of the bill. The President, rightly, pointed out that one of the things we can do to get more money in the economy--and in many cases, simply to create profit where profit is not there otherwise--there are government projects for many businesses, and the profit margin is less than 3 percent on big projects. There is only so much work one can do to stay in business. If a person is not making money, they cannot stay in the business of doing what they are doing. So for those large projects that have a huge overall number, often the profit doesn't even equal the 3- percent withholding, and businesses have determined they cannot do that. Obviously, it impacts the bidding process for Federal work. The tax revenue generated by this mandate is thought to be only around $200 million a year, and that $200 million left in the economy, left in the bidding process, left in the granting process could make a real difference.…”