President Barack Obama's campaign promise to eliminate tax benefits for companies that move jobs overseas ended up becoming fodder for Democratic campaign ads.

There are no provisions in the tax code that specifically reward companies for offshoring. But companies can take deductions for business expenses, including the cost of moving jobs to another country.

Obama included eliminating that deduction in his budgets for fiscal years 2015, 2016 and 2017, and Congressional Democrats have introduced several bills that include the idea. None of these got any traction in the Republican-controlled chambers.

Republicans and tax experts characterized one version of the legislation as political posturing, intended to help elect Democrats. (Here are two examples of attack ads Democrats have aired hammering their opponents on the vote.)

We rate this Promise Broken.

During the 2012 election season, President Obama promised to end tax deductions for companies that ship jobs overseas.

But as we noted when we factchecked another of Obama's campaign statements — one from the 2010 midterm elections claiming then-House Republican leader John Boehner supported these deductions — there are no provisions in the tax code that specifically reward companies for building factories overseas or outsourcing jobs.

There are, however, provisions that allow companies to avoid paying U.S. taxes on income generated by their foreign subsidiaries, at least until they bring those profits back to the United States. Both the president and legislators say these deferrals can encourage U.S.-based multinational companies to keep their foreign profits abroad and reinvest them in infrastructure overseas.

Obama took the first step in addressing this promise with his budget proposal for fiscal year 2014. As part of a larger reform of the corporate tax code, he proposed "to disallow deductions for moving production overseas, while providing a new tax credit for bringing production back to the United States.”

Mirroring Obama's commitment, the Democratic-controlled Senate included a similar promise to close "international tax loopholes and other incentives that move American jobs overseas” in its 2014 budget. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives' budget had different particulars, but it also included provisions for international tax reform.

But for any of the differences between proposals to be reconciled, Congress would first have to begin a budget conference, where a few members from each chamber convene to iron out differences. As long as Congress remains stuck in political gridlock on hot-button issues, a conference in the near future seems improbable.

Separate from the budget process, members of both chambers have also proposed major overhauls of the tax system.

Under the leadership of Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., the House Ways & Means Committee released a 2011 proposal for reforming the international tax code. Camp has been a particularly vocal advocate, speaking on the topic and helping launch taxreform.gov, a bipartisan website soliciting public input and support for the issue.

Under the House proposal, companies would be able to exempt 95 percent of their foreign income from U.S. taxes once it had been repatriated. The remaining 5 percent, once brought back to this country, would be taxed at the Committee's proposed new corporate tax rate of 25 percent for an effective 1.25 percent tax rate — effectively eliminating the deterrent to repatriating income the Committee says.

Over in the Senate, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the Finance Committee chair, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, have also announced their intention to tackle comprehensive tax reform. They said they will be taking a "blank slate” approach to the tax code and will ask senators to defend specific deductions.

But reconciling these proposals to create a viable bipartisan reform seems as unlikely as a budget conference.

Camp's proposal has been released for almost two years and has seen little action besides its mention in the House's 2014 budget. Nor do other difficult pieces of legislation seem to faring well in the House this term. The Republican caucus has splintered, leaving them unable to pass even the usually uncontroversial bipartisan farm bill.

As for the Senate, the same "blank slate” approach was attempted by Obama's fiscal commission three years ago and failed to produce anything meaningful. With Baucus retiring at the end of his term next year, drafting and passing sweeping tax reform in the upper chamber would require significant support from Senate leaders.

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he saw a "stumbling block” — whether the tax reforms would be revenue neutral or would help increase the government's revenue — before reform efforts even got started. Democrats too seemed less than optimistic. Although Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he supports Baucus' efforts going forward, he added that he thought the Senate is "a long way from getting something on paper.”

Although Obama has regularly discussed international tax reform in previous years of his administration, he's been largely silent on the issue since including it in his budget earlier this year.

With an unproductive Congress — on track to be one of the least productive in recent history — and minimal presidential support, comprehensive international tax reform is unlikely to be passed in the near future. Without that large overhaul, it's difficult to see Congress eliminating the tax deferrals for foreign income kept overseas. We rate this promise Stalled.