The corporate alternative minimum tax (CAMT) has remained in the news this week. During the Senate Finance Committee's September 10 hearing on the nomination of Donald Korb to be IRS Chief Counsel, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) suggested that "corporations are trying to wiggle out of" the CAMT by asking the Treasury Department and the IRS to write weaker rules. She told Korb to commit to not writing new rules to let "billionaire corporations" out of paying the tax. This followed a September 9 letter from Senator Warren and other members taking issue with specific Treasury CAMT guidance.

A September 11 Politico story said more companies may become subject to the CAMT because of tax benefits in the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBBA), including making the R&D expensing provision permanent (as IRC Section 174A) and providing the option to elect to retroactively deduct domestic research or experimental expenditures. "The new law not only revives it, but, to make up for lost time, Republicans allowed companies to accelerate R&D deductions they couldn't use in those years," the story said. "But that can create an unusually large, one-time deduction that can push businesses' tax rates below 15 percent — subjecting them to [the] tax. Many companies are now deliberating internally about how to proceed. Some could choose not to take advantage of the provision in order to avoid CAMT."

Also, during the hearing, Senator Warren criticized the OBBBA tax benefit for "research that's already been done" as a "windfall for corporate America." (She previously criticized the temporary R&D-expensing provision and other TCJA pre-cliffs as masking the cost of the 2017 TCJA.)

Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) both asked about 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit guidance. "The reconciliation bill made several modifications to the Clean Fuels Production Credit under 45Z that will take effect at the start of next year … " Senator Grassley said, adding that the Office of Management and Budget regulatory agenda suggestion that regulations won't be implemented until May 2026 is unacceptable. "The 45Z [credit] is really important to our farmers, and we need to get that one rolling," Senator Marshall said. "It's going to allow us to turn corn into jet fuel, something great for the economy as well as ecology."

As he did during a May IRS nomination hearing, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) noted the reintroduction of Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) review of tax regulations during the second Trump administration. "Every other agency out there has to be able to follow a set of rules to say if you're going to make a new regulation, OIRA needs to be able to check it, make sure you're following the Administrative Procedures Act before you release it," he said. "With respect to OIRA, I'm very well-versed in the entire APA process," Korb responded. "And I am committed to the executive order that the President put out requiring OIRA review of most regulations."

Government funding - House Republican leaders are eyeing a continuing resolution until November 21 — the Friday before Thanksgiving — and both the House and Senate could act on the funding patch next week, Politico reported. Both the House and Senate are slated to be out-of-session the week of September 22, shortening the period for consideration of a stopgap funding measure. Democratic support is needed to gain 60 votes in the Senate and some Democrats want an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that expire at the end of 2025 in exchange for their support.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said Republicans won't have Democratic votes unless they engage in bipartisan negotiations. "If that's his position, then he's calling for a government shutdown," Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) said of Schumer's comments in a September 11 Semafor report. "I personally support an extension in some form of those tax credits. But that doesn't really have anything to do with the need to keep [the] government funded." (Senator Collins typically advances appropriations bills on a bipartisan basis and has been willing to challenge the Administration on rescissions.) Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) said a short CR is possible to buy time toward a broader deal.

Health care — The ACA premium tax credits issue continues to be front-and-center, including as a reported focus of the regular Ways and Means GOP lunch Wednesday. Punchbowl News said September 10 that members like Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) and Kevin Hern (R-OK) are among the detractors of extending the expanded credits. "To pass it as it is, is not something that seems very plausible to me or Republicans for that matter," Hern said. "I mean, if you think about it for just a second, we just rescinded $9 billion in spending, another five on the table, and yet we're going to spend $40 billion on this."

A September 11 New York Times story, "How an Obamacare Deadline Is Colliding with Shutdown Negotiations," said, "The parallel deadlines have created a political dilemma for members of both parties. Republicans have insisted on spending cuts and said they don't want to add extra provisions to the funding bill. But while they have long resisted extending Obamacare subsidies, many are eager to insulate their party on health care after almost all of them voted over the summer to enact legislation that makes deep cuts to Medicaid." The story said, "Obamacare was set up to help people pay insurance premiums on a sliding scale according to their income. But the newer tax credits increase the amount of federal help, making insurance effectively free for many Americans close to the poverty line and offering new financial assistance to individuals earning more than around $60,000."

Also, during the Ways and Means meeting, Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), while not necessarily endorsing action on the credits, reportedly made comments about health insurance costs and soaring premiums.

A story in the September 11 Wall Street Journal (WSJ), "Health-Insurance Costs for Businesses Surge," said, "U.S. businesses are facing the biggest health-insurance cost increases in at least 15 years, after already-steep boosts in recent years that have pushed the annual expense for family coverage high enough to equal the price of a small car," and cited estimates of 2026 increases of over 9% in costs for employer coverage.

Trade - On September 9, the US Supreme Court granted certiorari in the case challenging the legal basis for President Trump's Reciprocal Tariff Policy, with oral arguments scheduled for the week of November 3. An EY Tax Alert states, "Though the Supreme Court's decision could have significant implications for tariffs imposed under IEEPA, it is important to note that many other duties remain unaffected — including Section 301 tariffs … Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum and Antidumping and Countervailing Duties (AD/CVD) orders."

The development followed the August 29 ruling that five emergency orders President Trump has signed to impose tariffs were not authorized by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a decision by the Court of International Trade but allowed tariffs to remain in place until mid-October to give the Administration time to appeal.

An analysis in the September 11 WSJ said, "If the court sides with Trump, it could hand the president sweeping fiscal authority long the purview of Congress. It could enable the president, by simply invoking an emergency with some foreign element, to justify almost any revenue measure in response: not just tariffs, but other taxes, too."

In other trade developments, Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) introduced a bill (H.R. 5209) September 8 to extend the preferential duty treatment program provided for Haiti under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) of 1983 for an additional ten years, through 2035. Without Congressional action, this preference program will expire on September 30.

Congress — The Washington Post reported September 11, "Senators voted 53-45 to allow themselves to change the rules with a simple majority instead of 60 votes — a move known as the 'nuclear option.' The rules change will allow the Senate to confirm multiple people at once, helping to clear a backlog of nearly 150 nominees awaiting floor votes."