Jobs for America Act
Latest action. Read the second time. Placed on Senate legislative calendarThe list of measures reported out of committee and eligible for floor action. Being on the calendar is not a promise of a vote.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) under General Orders. Calendar No. 597.
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)
Jobs for America Act - Division I: Ways and Means - Title I: Save American Workers - Save American Workers Act of 2014 - (Sec. 102) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to redefine "full-time employee," for purposes of the mandate requiring employers to provide health care coverage for their employees, as an employee who is employed on average at least 40 hours of service a week (currently, at least 30 hours of service a week).
Title II: Hire More Heroes - Hire More Heroes Act of 2014 - (Sec. 202) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit an employer, for purposes of determining whether such employer is an applicable large employer and thus required to provide health care coverage to its employees under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, to exclude employees who have coverage under a health care program administered by the Department of Defense (DOD), including TRICARE, or the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Title III: American Research and Competitiveness - American Research and Competitiveness Act of 2014 - (Sec. 302) Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the tax credit for research expenses, to: (1) make the rate of such credit equal to the sum of 20% of so much of the qualified research expenses and payments as exceeds 50% of the expenses and payments for the three preceding taxable years and 20% of the amounts paid to any energy research consortium for energy research; and (2) make such credit, as revised by this Act, permanent.
(Sec. 303) Prohibits the budgetary effects of this Title from being entered on any PAYGO scorecard maintained pursuant to the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010.
Title IV: America's Small Business Tax Relief - America's Small Business Tax Relief Act of 2014 - (Sec. 402) Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the expensing allowance for depreciable business property, to make permanent: (1) the increased $500,000 expensing allowance for such property, (2) the increased $2,000,000 threshold amount for such property over which the amount of the expensing allowance is reduced, (3) expensing of computer software, and (4) rules for the expensing of qualified real property (i.e., leasehold improvement, restaurant, and retail improvement property). Allows an inflation adjustment to the dollar amounts of the expensing allowance for taxable years beginning after 2014. Makes air conditioning and heating units eligible for the expensing allowance. Allows an annual inflation adjustment for taxable years beginning after 2014 to the increased expensing amounts.
The summary continues for 159 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House without amendment" stage on September 18, 2014. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on November 13, 2014: Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 597.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
DAVE CAMP (R-MI) introduced it on September 15, 2014, and 4 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 4 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on September 15, 2014, 4378 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4319 days ago, on November 13, 2014.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers