Some Tax Cuts Passed by House; Need to Extend Capital Gains Tax Decrease

According to the Washington Post, the U.S. Congress passed 3 consecutive bills creating tax cuts for different groups of constituents. The tax bills are:

• Create an economic zone in the Gulf Coast area affected by the hurricanes. This would allow businesses to deduct almost everything from their taxes, in order to provide incentive to start businesses in the region. Certain businesses are exempt such as gambling, hot tubs (?), country clubs, etc. Also, the bill would allow the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to be granted tax exempt Bond status for bonds related to rebuilding.
• Allow members of the military to claim their combat pay for an income credit.
• Increase the lower limit of the AMT, so less "middle class" people will be burdened by this alternative to the Income Tax.

The bill I'm particularly interested in is the extension of the capital gains tax decrease (from 20% to 15%) and the dividend tax rate (38.5% to 15%). Both of these have encouraged investment or at least made it less difficult. The Congress is expected to vote today to extend this temporary tax decrease.