Politics

The committee working out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the state budget now has updated estimates on tax revenues and Medicaid. Those numbers were higher than estimates, but they came with a caution.

The Office of Budget and Management estimates $709 million more in tax revenues above the original forecast, but budget director Tim Keen says after payments to the federal government for unemployment benefits, transfers to the rainy day fund and other issues are paid, there will only be about $397 million extra to do more tax cuts or spending.

Businesses would have to prioritize hiring an American worker over a foreign one, under a bipartisan amendment announced Tuesday by U-S Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio.

Senator Brown says the amendment essentially restores language in the Senate’s immigration bill that requires companies offering positions to recruit AND hire qualified American workers ahead of foreign workers seeking H-1B visas.  The H-1B allows foreign workers with advanced degrees and specialized skills to work in the U.S., on a temporary three-year basis.  Last year, 135-thousand were issued in the country.

A Democratic congressman has released the full transcript of congressional investigators' interview with an IRS manager. John Shafer is a self-described conservative Republican. He said that close scrutiny of tea party group tax forms originated in his Cincinnati IRS office, not in Washington.

Shafer oversaw a group of IRS workers who screen applications for tax-exempt status. He said he was unaware of any involvement by the White House in decisions to screen tea party groups.