Tax-exempt bonds

The BDA met last week ahead of the House Ways and Means launching talks on what the reconciliation tax package may include.

In 2017, the BDA hired a lobbying firm as Congress wrote a tax reform bill. This time, the group opted for a strategic communications firm.

A united Republican vote for the continuing resolution could indicate the GOP's ability to gather support for the more complex reconciliation bill.

The House now needs to negotiate a final budget resolution with the Senate, whose leaders have said they want to make the TCJA permanent.

Bond lawyers want to make sure their voices are heard as Congress moves toward critical votes on tax policy.

The unpredictable nature of legislating leads most to holding off on disclosure changes until a bill becomes a law.

The Senate move provides an alternative pathway towards a final budget agreement as the House wrestles with an approach that could include key tax policy changes for the muni market.

In 2017, Congress moved from budget resolution to reconciliation legislation in less than six weeks.

The legislation comes as the municipal market industry fends off threats to tax-exempt municipal bonds.

Portfolio managers seem more sanguine about threats to the tax exemption from Congress.

The deeper the proposed cuts, the more the municipal market fears for the fate of tax-exempt bonds.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn remains a supporter of private activity bonds, his staff told BDA.

The short-lived federal funding freeze from President Donald Trump and jeopardy of tax-exempt status are just the latest issues plaguing the muni bond industry.

The muni industry is trying to get to the bottom of questions around how the House arrived at savings estimates for eliminating the tax exemption.

Municipal market advocates plan to use the data to support the case to Congress for preserving the tax exemption.

The lobby trying to protect the tax exemption is working overtime as the threat appears very real.

As Republicans hash out their promised tax package, the debate over the bill's scoring method carries implications for tax-exempt municipal bonds.

The House document outlining potential policy changes focuses heavily on the healthcare sector to generate savings.

Sources on the Hill indicate that whatever gets cut will come from that list. But that doesn't mean that everything on the list is going to get cut.

The legislative track pursued by Republicans will set the timeline for the tax reform debate closely watched by the municipal market.