Companies hold cash offshore until tax reform; Jeff Flake the unorthodox Republican; and Oregon presses for fire funds

U.S. COMPANIES HOLDING CASH ABROAD WAITING FOR TAX REFORM. The high U.S. tax rate continues to encourage companies to stash cash and profits offshore while executives wait for tax reform. The Street has an interview with computing giant Cisco’s CFO Kelly Kramer on the company’s plans for more the more than $60 billion it currently holds overseas. She said she’s just waiting for the 35 percent corporate tax rate to drop.

“At the end of the fiscal fourth quarter, Cisco had $60.4 billion in cash and marketable securities, up from $54.4 billion at the end of the fiscal third quarter. However, only $7 billion of that is available in the U.S., where the cash is used to pay for dividends and share buybacks.”

JEFF FLAKE THE UNORTHODOX SENATOR. The Post’s Mike DeBonis has a profile of how Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has stuck to his libertarian roots in the Senate. High on his list of priorities is cutting spending and government waste.

“He holds stellar ratings from the Club for Growth and the National Taxpayers Union. And he has maintained a sharp focus on government waste, highlighting government programs he’d cut in social-media-friendly packages like his recent “Jurassic Pork” report or his March Madness-themed ‘Egregious Eight Tournament of Waste.,’” Debonis writes “But with the congressional appropriations process again stalled, Flake has found it difficult to be the kind of spending hawk he was in the House, digging into programs, line item by line item.”

OREGON PRESSES FOR FIRE FUNDS. After months of drought and high winds, fires are raging across Oregon and residents are fuming that Congress has failed to approve additional funds to fight the blazes. The Bend Bulletin in Bend, Ore. has ran an editorial slamming Congress for failing to take up several fire prevention bills.

“The Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service now typically run out of money to fight wildfires every year. Then they start eating into money from other parts of their budgets, including thinning and other fire prevention. In other words, to fight wildfires they take money that would reduce or prevent them.”