The certainty offered by a long-term bill is precisely what America's transportation leaders--like the Champions of Change I met yesterday--need to plan confidently for tomorrow's infrastructure and begin putting our friends and neighbors back to work today.
When a company buys back stock instead of paying a dividend, the stock value appreciates by the like amount of the dividend and long-term shareholders get a 50% savings on their tax bill (assuming a 40% ordinary income tax rate versus a 20% longterm capital gains rate).