Congress approves sweeping fiscal package, oil export ban included

The legislation extends the 30-percent solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and the credit for solar-powered energy-efficient properties for three years, phasing it down in the final two.

Obama welcomed the legislation, a rare compromise product of the divided government. “It was a good win”. The Senate is expected to pass the package later today, The Hill said, after pairing it with a massive tax package approved by the House on Thursday.

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.

“And as Russia occupies Crimea, destabilizes Ukraine, menaces our North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies and bombs US-backed forces in Syria, the omnibus includes a provision allowing a single USA company to spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying Russian-made rocket engines from [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and his cronies”, McCain said. He pointed to an overhaul of US prison sentences and a 12-nation Asia-Pacific trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as two issues he hopes lawmakers will address in 2016.

U.S. lawmakers approved a USD1.1 trillion budget bill Friday, and President Barack Obama signed the measure into law in a last-minute move to avoid a shutdown of the USA government before Congress adjourns for the year.

The Senate passed voted 65-33 in favor of the package, which also included a bill to extend expired tax breaks that the House passed on Thursday. The legislation, that has been in negotiation since September, now waits for President Obama’s approval.

“We advanced our priorities and principles”.

The evening before the vote, Cruz wrote an op-ed torching the legislation. “In his interactions with me, he has been professional and reached out to tell me what he can do and what he cannot do”. Only Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., voted for it. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) missed the vote.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who’s running for the Democratic presidential nomination, voted no, lamenting that the package “gives more tax breaks to billionaires, encourages large corporations to ship jobs overseas and makes worse an already corrupt campaign finance system”.

“In divided government, no one gets exactly what they want”, he said after voting for the measures. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., scheduled the votes for Friday anyway.

Mr Ryan received a congratulatory call from Mr Obama, who thanked him for keeping government working through compromise. Top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California, a key negotiator, has swung forcefully behind the measure after showing frustration over its lifting of the four-decade ban on exporting US crude oil — which most Democrats oppose.

Their opposition puts them at odds with the White House, which on Wednesday announced its support for the tax bill as well as the spending bill.

Democrats beat back waves of Republican riders that would have rolled back parts of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, limited the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon emissions, and removed the limit on coordination between political parties and candidates.

“They wanted big oil so much that they gave away the store”, Pelosi said.

The spending bill includes a major concession to Democrats in the continued federal funding of Planned Parenthood.

Obama has promised to sign the measure, which also includes numerous spending increases he has demanded all year. It contains spending boosts for veterans and medical research. More than 50 expiring tax cuts will be extended with more than 20 becoming permanent, including credits for companies’ expenditures for research and equipment purchases and reductions for lower-earning families and households with children and college students. Democratic leadership said the passage of the bill capped of a successful year for the party, and took shots at Republicans for blocking legislation in previous Congresses.

Siobhan Hughes and Amy Harder contributed to this article.