The Obama Administration continues to look for ways to find tax revenue and as a result, several significant tax breaks for multinational companies may be on the chopping block.  During the Bush and Clinton Administrations, it became easier for controlled foreign corporations (CFCs) to conduct financial transactions between offshore subsidiaries at much-lower effective tax rates (or in some cases, tax-free).  If Obama gets his wish, these tax breaks will not be renewed at the end of 2010 and the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates will result in an increase of $31-86.5 billion in tax revenue from 2011-2019.

Congressional Quarterly (subscription required) reported this morning that the House passed by a voice vote yesterday a measure to speed the hiring of new investigators in Afghanistan.

The White House is making moves to address the growing concern over the budget deficit but the results may be lukewarm.  The details of the program have yet to be announced but in an effort to display fiscal discipline, the Administration is likely to announce a set of budget control initiatives, such as pay-as-you-go (PAYGO).  With the honeymoon effect fading, poll numbers indicate that the American public is beginning to express concern over who will eventually foot the bill for all of the recently proposed federal spending.

A report yesterday from Bureau of National Affairs (subscription required) cites several unnamed congressional sources saying the House plans to revive a statutory pay-as-you-go budget law in June. Statutory pay-go would require budgetary offsets for increases in permanent spending programs or tax cuts. Expect the measure to move through the lower house quickly, but resistance in the Senate, where lawmakers have questioned the effectiveness of the budget tool, is casting doubt on the measure's future.