The debate over online sales tax was revived today, when Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Il, reintroduced The Marketplace Fairness Act, which allows states to collect online sales tax from companies earning more than $1 million in annual sales. - Read more at Reuters
BOEHNER TO REID: YOU GO NEXT It’s up to the Senate to come up with a sequester replacement, House Speaker John Boehner House told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this morning. Boehner was quick to remind the majority leader that the House had already offered up two bills to replace the across-the-board cuts with other spending cuts last year and now it’s the Senate’s turn, adding that the House wouldn’t accept a replacement bill unless it balances the budget in 10 years. - Read more at Roll Call
REID OBLIGES: OFFERS UP A $110 DEAL Senate Democrats unveiled a one-year sequester replacement that raises nearly $55 billion in taxes through a minimum effective tax rate for wealthy individuals and families, and contains $55 billion in spending cuts evenly divided between defense and non-defense programs, including $27.5 billion from agriculture subsidies and $27.5 billion from defense cuts. - Read more at The Hill
POSTAL SERVICE DELIVERS MORE BAD NEWS The struggling U.S. Postal Service is set to be $45 billion in the red by 2017 if Congress doesn’t pass legislation to alter its business model. During a House Committee hearing Wednesday, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe told Congress the agency has already taken a handful of cost-saving measures including ending Saturday delivery, which the majority of Americans approve of, according to a new Pew poll released today. For now, the Postal Service is losing $25 million a day and has a $20 billion budget gap. - Read more at The Fiscal Times
