House passes massive $1.1T spending package

Republicans pushed a year-end tax-cut compromise toward House passage Thursday as Congress prepared to finish 2015 with a flurry of accomplishment and await the partisan collisions sure to dominate the coming election year.

Mr Obama promptly signed the bill, approving the massive 2016 tax and spending package.

The legislation also includes a reauthorization of programs to compensate and provide health care for first responders and survivors of the September 11, 2001, attacks and a cybersecurity measure that could help businesses cooperate more closely with the government and each other in fighting online threats. “I think he is respectful of the process and respectful of how legislation works”. “It was a good win”.

Congress approved a $1.1 trillion spending package on Friday that avoids a government shutdown and funds federal agencies through next fall.

Luckily, the House Republicans are now under the reins of Speaker Paul Ryan who whipped his remaining members into shape by providing some – but not all – of the tax and spending measures they wanted.

Not long after, the Senate voted 65-33 to send the entire package to Obama’s desk, and lawmakers began rushing to catch flights back home with Congress adjourning until January.

Obama called Ryan after the vote to thank him “for helping government work”, he said.

The lopsided House vote was a major victory for new Speaker Paul Ryan.

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 authorise a conservation fund for three years. They warned if the bill didn’t pass, Republicans would still end up getting the tax cuts that were negotiated alongside the spending bill, and Democrats would be short-changing a host of programs they have fought to give more resources.

Republicans said the tax bill would make revamping tax laws next year easier by clearing away those extensions now.

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, which then sent it to President Obama for his signature.

Ryan cited the lifting of the oil export ban, the large increase for the Pentagon and curbs on the activities of the Environmental Protection Agency and the IRS as wins for Republicans.

The bill would make permanent the $1,000 child tax credit and a $2,500 tax credit to help low-income families pay for higher education, and it would permanently extend the earned-income tax credit available to low-income working families. It awards increases of about 6 percent, on average, above tight spending caps that were a relic of a 2011 budget and debt deal – and were opposed by both GOP defense hawks and Democrats seeking boosts in domestic spending. A tax on medical devices would be suspended for two years, a levy on health insurers would stop for one year and, in a victory for unions, a tax on higher-cost insurance policies would be postponed two years until 2020.

The legislation does, however, incorporate a bipartisan push to limit certain travel privileges granted to citizens of 38 friendly foreign countries that are allowed to enter the USA without obtaining a visa.

And a health and compensation fund for 9/11 first responders is funded and extended.