Media

The House today passed “Tax Reform 2.0” legislation (H.R. 6760) that would make permanent the 2017 tax cuts for individuals and certain pass-through businesses – currently set to expire at the end of 2025.

A day-long briefing this week by senior officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to The Roundtable’s Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) and the National Retail Federation focused on maintaining vigilance in the commercial sector during the holiday season; counterterrorism trends; criminal gang trends; organized retail crime; terrorism financing and an analysis of recent active shooter and workplace violence incidents.

Lawmakers return to Washington next week for a Lame Duck session after midterm elections that secured Democratic control of the House in January. Policymakers will immediately face a Dec. 7 deadline to fund parts of the government that may collide with President Trump’s goal to fund a border wall on the Mexican border – a possible impasse that could threaten a partial government shutdown.

Commercial real estate executives continue to see strong and balanced market conditions for the remainder of 2018 and moving forward into the new year, according to The Real Estate Roundtable’s Q4 2018 Economic Sentiment Index released today.

The commercial real estate industry mourns the recent passing of real estate industry icon Marshall Bennett. He was 97.

House GOP leaders yesterday delayed a vote on a $54 billion dollar tax bill released Monday (H.R. 88) by House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) that includes tax "extenders" and technical corrections of importance to commercial real estate.

Congress returned to Washington this week to prepare their lame duck session agenda, which is expected to address a federal government spending bill and possible tax legislation.

Lawmakers returned to Washington this week for their post-election “lame duck” session, facing a Dec. 7 government funding deadline that threatens a partial government shutdown.

A Dec. 4 report by Heritage Foundation Economist Stephen Moore finds that "promoting and facilitating foreign tourism to the United States can be an effective way to increase American jobs and national output while reducing the nation's trade deficit."

President Trump today signed a spending measure to fund the government until Dec. 21, buying time for policymakers to negotiate over the key issue of funding a border wall on the Mexican border.

The federal government will partially shutdown unless Washington policymakers can pass a year-end funding bill by Dec. 21. Negotiations over a spending measure have deadlocked over President Trump's request of at least $5 billion for construction of a wall on the Mexican border versus Democrats' offer of approximately $1.3 billion for border security.

The federal government will partially shutdown unless Washington policymakers can pass a year-end funding bill by midnight tonight. Negotiations over a spending measure have deadlocked over President Trump's request of at least $5 billion for construction of a wall on the Mexican border.

A partial federal government shutdown over the issue of funding for a wall on the Mexican border continued this week after the new 116th Congress was sworn in and Democrats elected Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as House Speaker.

Nearly a month into the partial government shutdown, the impasse over funding of a border wall on the Mexican border continues with no sign that an agreement between President Trump and Congress is near.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) were among the guests who addressed national policy issues during The Real Estate Roundtable’s 2019 State of the Industry (SOI) meeting this week in Washington.

Congressional negotiators reported progress on a border-security deal this week, as they aim to pass legislation by Feb. 15 to fund approximately 25% of the government. Without a new funding measure, the government will face a second partial shutdown.

A $333 billion spending package passed by Congress yesterday and signed by President Trump today funds the government through Sept. 30 (end of FY2019), avoiding a second government shutdown.

This week’s Real Estate Roundtable Spring Meeting featured discussions with U.S. lawmakers on developing market-based public policies that benefit national economic growth, create sustainable jobs and meet the evolving housing needs of local communities. The meeting focused on issues such as infrastructure; terrorism insurance; tax issues such as opportunity zones and FIRPTA repeal; and energy efficiency.

The Real Estate Roundtable and a coalition of more than 100 business organizations yesterday sent a letter to Senate and House tax writers supporting legislation that would permanently extend the new 20 percent deduction for qualified pass-through business income.

The Senate yesterday confirmed Mark Calabria, previous chief economist to Vice President Mike Pence, as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) – the federal regulator overseeing Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the multi-trillion dollar Federal Home Loan Bank System.