3 Percent Withholding a Priority in both the House and Senate

Last Week, the House Committee on Ways and Means approved, unanimously, H.R. 674, which will repeal 3 percent withholding.  The full House is expected to vote next week on the bill.    Please contact your representative to urge them to support passage of this legislation. In an effort to expedite Senate consideration of 3 percent withholding repeal, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) introduced S. 1726 - identical to 3 percent repeal bill S.164, which was introduced by Senator Scott Brown (R-Mass.) in January.  By introducing the new version of the bill, Senator McConnell was able to bypass committee consideration of the bill and make it available for immediate floor consideration.  Guess what, it worked! The Senate is scheduled to vote tomorrow on moving to consider S. 1726, the latest effort to repeal the 3 percent withholding.  There is still a slight chance that a vote could happen before the end of the day today or actually be moved to the first week in November.  AGC sent a letter to the Senate today urging support for S. 1726. AGC wants as many representatives and senators as possible to vote for the bill.   We are asking you and your employees to contact your senators and representative today and urge them to cosponsor and support passage of H.R. 674 and S. 1726.  The House bill currently has 269 cosponsors while the Senate cosponsor list has 36 signatures. With the House in recess this week, only one representative was added to the list of cosponsors in the House, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.). The most recent addition to the Senate cosponsor list are is Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.)—there are now 5 democratic cosponsors in the Senate. Below are four options for contacting your representative:

• Send a letter using AGC’s Legislative Action Center.
• Schedule a meeting with your Senator during the District Work Period the week of Oct. 24. Click here for background and talking points.
• Call your representative and senators by dialing (202) 224-3121 and asking for your representative’s office. Click here for a phone script template.
• Tell us your story by replying to this email. Your emails will be shared with our allies on Capitol Hill to support repeal.

Use AGC’s 3 percent withholding website to find additional resources, including talking points, IRS regulations, videos on the impact of this legislation, letters sent to Congress by AGC, and ways to become involved. Click on your state to find out if your representative has yet to cosponsor H.R. 674. For more information, contact Karen Lapsevic at 202-547-4733 or lapsevick@agc.org.