House approves $1.14 trillion budget deal, sends legislation to Senate

The strong vote tally in the face of these concerns is a victory for new House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), whose allies had pushed their reluctant GOP colleagues to vote for the bill arguing it would strengthen their new leader’s ability to negotiate deals next year.

House Speaker Paul Ryan praised the legislation as a bipartisan compromise despite the expansive nature of the bill. Only Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., voted for it. Sen.

The tax bill also takes a shot at the Internal Revenue Service, which Republicans have not forgiven following its admission that it subjected conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status to unfairly tough investigations.

Today, the Senate approved the FY2016 Omnibus Appropriations and the “Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015”, clearing them for the president’s signature.

Obama added that “because it eliminates the possibility of a shutdown for the first nine months of next year, Congress and I have a long runway to get some important things done on behalf of the American people”. The deal clearly favors Republicans in raw numbers, but hey, voters gave them control of Congress, and many Democrats have businesses in their districts that will greatly benefit from these tax breaks.

While some Democrats said it was an opportunity to make family tax breaks permanent, others complained it was too skewed toward business. “They have come to believe that their party’s elites are not only uninterested in defending their interests but – as with this legislation, and fast-tracking the President’s worldwide trade pact – openly hostile to them”, Sessions said. Some Democrats hinted they would withhold their support for the spending bill over objections to lifting the oil export ban.

“This bill is a good bill – it is not a flawless bill”, Boustany said. The Senate followed suit and easily passed the measure, 65-33. “And I think that Speaker Ryan deserves a role in that”.

“This bill is even referred to as a Christmas tree bill because special interests get special presents, all in ornaments on this tree”, Representative Lloyd Doggett, Democrat of Texas, said in a speech on the House floor yesterday. “Let’s vote for it, and may the Force be with us”.

For example, in exchange for Democrats’ support for lifting ban on the crude oil exports, Republicans agreed to extend wind and solar tax credits and authorize a conservation fund for three years.

Other extended tax cuts include breaks for some teachers, commuters, timber investors, electric vehicle owners and makers of hard cider drinks.

People in the seven states without state income taxes could deduct local sales taxes on their federal returns.

The bill increases defence spending, which Republicans said was critical given the level of unrest in the Middle East and the increased spectre of terrorism. Together, the two bills would keep $680 billion from tax coffers over 10 years. The president invited Ryan to dinner at the White House in the new year. In the omnibus bill, Democrats also fought to include a temporary halt to new Obamacare taxes, including one on medical device manufacturers and another on so-called Cadillac health insurance policies.

The overall tax and spending agreement has broader bipartisan support in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blamed the number of riders in the omnibus bill on the administration’s regulatory scheme.

The research tax break will be “a booster shot for the innovation economy in America”, said Sen.

“A rotten process yields a rotten result, and this 2,000-page, trillion-dollar bill is rotten to its core”, Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said.

This story includes contributions from The Courier and Daily Comet and Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor, Alan Fram, Matthew Daly, Mary Clare Jalonick and Deb Riechmann.