Back in July we looked at the details of an onerous provision hidden deep inside the recent health-care bill. It was a little booby-trap requiring that businesses file 1099-MISC forms for all purchases over $600 — mandating an enormous compliance burden on small businesses, in an effort to bleed enough private-sector money into the public fisc to make Democratic claims about Obamacare’s deficit-neutrality a smidge less mendacious. (Visit the link above to see how the sleight-of-hand was done: the provision was not inserted directly into the bill, but was discreetly slipped in as a reference to modifications in a completely different piece of legislation.)
Nobody seems to have noticed this “popcorn surprise” before the health-care bill was passed, and now many of the bill’s Democratic supporters have joined Republicans in an effort to remove it. A parliamentary maneouvre by Nancy Pelosi stymied the effort in the House, but today the Senate is having a go.
Learn more here.
One Comment
Something wrong with popcorn surprise? It’s the main staple of my social life. Along with “Come In, Rangoon.”