House, Senate Rush to Send Huge Budget and Tax Deal to Obama

Though House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was leading a Democratic charge against the tax measure, GOP leaders seemed certain to push it through the chamber Thursday.

Under the deal, low-earning parents and working families will hold onto more of their paychecks, and take advantage of the deal’s $1,000 child tax credit.

The House adopted a $622 billion measure to revive dozens of business and individual tax breaks – making some of them permanent – ahead of a vote Friday on a companion plan to fund the USA government and lift the ban on crude oil exports.

Once the House acts, and many expect it will ultimately approve the bill on a narrow margin, the Senate will vote on the package, and it’s expected to pass it and send it the President to sign before the federal government runs out of money at midnight on Tuesday.

Their opposition puts them at odds with the White House, which on Wednesday announced its support for the tax bill as well as a sprawling year-end federal spending bill that the House votes on Friday.

Lawmakers seemed resigned to accepting what they view as an imperfect compromise as preferable to a political meltdown that would further sour the public’s view of Congress. Even supporters of the deal offered faint praise.

Many other tax bills passed by the Republican-led House this year had no chance of enactment.

“Indeed, this process is the antitheses of flawless”, said Sen.

“Rep. Paul Ryan’s first major legislative achievement is a total and complete sell-out of the American people masquerading as an appropriations bill”, wrote Stephen K. Bannon and Julia Hahn on Breitbart.

“Delivering Obama these wins-and pushing these issues beyond the purview of Congress-will suppress public attention to the issues and, in so doing, will boost the candidacy of the Republican establishment’s preferred presidential contenders, who favor President Obama’s immigration agenda”, they continued.

The tax breaks and spending provisions cover everything government does – and limit how federal money can be spent.

It also bars the US from implementing the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.

Though the tax bill would mostly renew scores of existing breaks that have lapsed or are about to, its scope was impressive and its victories distributed to Republicans and Democrats alike. An education policy bill also passed by the Senate would impose more ethics and open records requirements on charter schools and permit new avenues for them to open, particularly in Philadelphia.

And despite maintaining pro-life protections guaranteed in the Hyde amendment, the new budget does not end the ban on funding for Planned Parenthood.

“This is a recipe for corruption”, said Sen. “I am proud to support this legislation today to provide a strong path to both and I will continue my fight to completely abolish the IRS and scrap our current tax code”. “In fact, I’m a bit ashamed”, he said.

The 2016 budget also weakens Obamacare by eliminating the so-called “Cadillac tax” placed on high-value health plans. “It is the opposite of what was done by former Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, who kept some provisions, changed some, ended some like bonus depreciation, and paid for his revenue-neutral comprehensive tax reform proposal”, Levin said on the House floor Thursday. “Businesses and workers across our country deserve the certainty that comes from ensuring that our government remains open and serving the American people”.