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

Congress gave final approval Friday to one of the most ambitious legislative packages in years – a $1.1-trillion funding bill with almost $650 billion in tax breaks and dozens of other policy initiatives.

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President Obama is expected to sign both measures.

Voting for the bill in the House were 150 Republicans and 166 Democrats, while 95 Republicans and 18 Democrats opposed it. Ryan relied on Democratic votes to help pass the measure as Boehner often had to do. “I’m sure that’s true for everybody”.

Some tax cuts were sprinkled into the spending bill, too, as a way to attract GOP votes.

The two pieces of legislation would suspend three taxes meant to fund the Affordable Care Act – a so-called Cadillac tax on high-cost health insurance plans would be delayed from 2018 to 2020; a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices would be paused in 2016 and 2017; and a fee on health insurers would be paused for 2016. Multiple Democrats say the GOP has roughly only 100 votes for the spending deal, and will still need to get the vast majority of House Democrats on board to get to the 218 needed.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi warned she could not guarantee that enough of her members will back the spending legislation on Friday because it includes the oil export provision and offers no help for Puerto Rico in its fiscal crisis.

Republicans said they had gotten the better bargain in ending the oil export ban.

Ryan said that he has not yet had a formal one-on-one meeting with the president but that Obama has invited him to share a meal with him next year.

That angered some conservatives who said they couldn’t support a bill that didn’t freeze resettlement of Syrian refugees while the vetting process is overhauled. She got commitments from congressional leaders and the White House to address the issue early next year. Instead, work was outsourced to committee leaders, part of Ryan’s attempt to decentralize power and involve more lawmakers in decision-making.

“I think it’s a good working relationship”. The White House opposed the rollbacks. With a new president and a new Congress to be elected next year, that’s about how long it will take.

The compromise legislation has something in it for everyone to both like and dislike. Republicans believe lifting the 40-year ban was the biggest win for their party.

“There are so many things in this bill that will be surprising and shocking to the American people”, said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C. “Maybe there is a Santa Claus”.

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

The package also included cybersecurity reforms that will nudge companies to disclose cyberattacks, and shield them from some liability if they aid government investigations.

“This bipartisan compromise secures meaningful wins for Republicans and the American people, such as the repeal of the outdated, anti-growth ban on oil exports”, Ryan said, citing a large increase for the Pentagon and curbs on the activities of the Environmental Protection Agency and the IRS.

The combined bill will bar the government from listing the sage grouse as an endangered species, but it does not include Republican-backed provisions to prohibit the EPA from regulating air emissions related to global climate change.

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Several of the GOP presidential candidates within the Senate have been amongst these opposing the legislation, although Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen.

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