While Congress is facing a December deadline to put together a federal budget, the deadline for raising the debt ceiling was moved up sooner than expected. Chris Hennessey highlights the leading issues on the congressional agenda for the fourth quarter. Key issues and deadlines include:
- The federal Highway Trust Fund expires at the end of October.
- Congress passed a continuing resolution to fund the government operations through December 11. A longer-term budget agreement will need to be secured.
- Because federal receipts were not as large as anticipated in September, the Secretary of the Treasury moved up the debt ceiling debate deadline to November 3. Without raising the cap on borrowing, the government could default on some of its obligations.
- A package of 50 so-called tax extenders will expire at the end of the year unless Congress votes to extend them, retroactive to January 2015. Among the extenders is a popular provision to allow investors age 70½ and older to roll over up to $100,000 tax free directly to a qualified charity.
In addition, Congress may be eyeing changes to the tax treatment of some advanced estate-planning strategies.
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