House Ways and Means Committee Republicans sent a letter dated October 5 to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew again voicing concerns about the Obama administration’s proposed Code Sec. 385 regulations. The letter comes on the heels of the Treasury delivering final regulations under Code Sec. 385 to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review on September 30, according to GOP lawmakers. “We believe these rules if finalized would have a significant adverse impact on the American economy, discouraging investment and hurting American jobs and workers,” lawmakers wrote.
The letter marks the latest effort in a line of bipartisan outreach by lawmakers cautioning Lew against moving forward with the proposed debt-equity regulations as currently drafted. GOP lawmakers again wrote to Lew urging the Treasury not to finalize the rules “in haste.”
“Any revised rules should be issued as proposed regulations only, which should be finalized only after the vetting necessary to ensure that the rules are right,” lawmakers wrote. “Given the significance of these rules, they should be accompanied by a thorough analysis of the economic impact as required by law.”
Ways and Means Committee members held a bipartisan meeting with Lew in September and Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Tex., asked Lew to “slow the process down”. Likewise, Senate Finance Committee (SFC) members met with Lew in July, and SFC Chairman Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, wrote to Lew in August, also expressing his shared concerns over the proposed regulations.
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