[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 204 (Tuesday, December 17, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1601-E1602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 THE NEED FOR REVISIONS TO THE PFIC INSURANCE EXCEPTION FOR FINANCIAL 
                      GUARANTY INSURANCE COMPANIES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GWEN MOORE

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 17, 2019

  Ms. MOORE. Madam Speaker, I thank the Speaker and the Chairman of the 
Ways and Means Committee for working on an end of year bipartisan tax 
package and helping Congress get on with the business of legislating. 
While I wish that our colleagues in the Senate would take up Butch 
Lewis, which the House passed in July, and addresses the multiemployer 
pension crisis affecting millions of retirees across the country and I 
wish my colleagues across the aisle would have supported the Ways and 
Means Committee's advancement of legislation to expand the Earned 
Income Tax Credit and make the Child Tax Credit fully refundable, it's 
important for our constituents to see Congress working together.
  I also know that many Americans are waiting for Congress to make 
essential fixes to the tax code in response to the Tax Cuts and Jobs 
Act and were hoping that Congress would add these fixes to our year-end 
tax package. While a couple such fixes were made, many vital revisions 
were left out.
  I am planning to introduce bipartisan legislation early next year 
that will fix an unintended consequence of the recent changes to the 
insurance business exception to the passive foreign investment company, 
or PFIC, rules. I urge my colleagues to join me in this effort and 
cosponsor this upcoming legislation especially Members who are aware of 
the importance of available and affordable municipal bond financing to 
state and local municipalities.
  This legislation is necessary to preserve the availability and 
affordability of financial guaranty insurance with respect to municipal 
bond financing for state and local municipalities. I have worked in 
close consultation with the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation in 
developing this legislation to ensure that it provides a narrow 
exception for financial guarantors that is specifically designed to 
address the issue affecting municipal bond insurance in a manner that 
preserves the closing of a

[[Page E1602]]

loophole for foreign hedge funds, the intended targets of the recent 
changes.
  As I work with stakeholders and colleagues to finalize this 
legislation, I understand that the Treasury Department and the Internal 
Revenue Service are currently working on finalizing regulations with 
respect to the PFIC insurance business exception. I am particularly 
encouraged that the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue 
Service specifically requested comments with respect to the application 
of those regulations to financial guaranty insurance. I would encourage 
the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to carefully 
consider the comments received pursuant to their request in light of 
the pending introduction and consideration of my legislation to address 
as much as possible any unintended consequences with respect to 
financial guarantors.

                          ____________________