Senate to vote on anti-outsourcing bill

WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- A bill to reward companies that return operations to the United States would help create U.S. jobs, the bill's sponsor said ahead of a planned Senate vote.

"We need to be exporting our products, not our jobs," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

"Instead of letting companies use tax loopholes that help them ship jobs overseas, we need to be cutting taxes for companies that create jobs in America," she said when she introduced the bill in May. "It's time to stop rewarding companies that send jobs to other countries and instead support businesses creating jobs here at home."

Senate Democrats plan to force a vote this week on the Bring Jobs Home Act, the Los Angeles Times reported, adding the legislation was unlikely to become law.

The measure would give companies that return operations and workers to the United States a 20 percent tax credit for making the move. It would pay for the tax credit by eliminating tax deductions for companies' costs of relocating and outsourcing jobs abroad.

Senate Republicans say they oppose the measure, preferring to overhaul the corporate and individual tax code.

The measure was included in a five-point economic "to do" list for Congress that President Barack Obama proposed in May.

Republicans have largely dismissed the list, even though it includes measures to spur the economy the GOP has supported in the past, the Times said.

The outsourcing bill is sponsored in the Republican-controlled House by Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J.