Despite some grumbling in both parties over the contents of the deal – a $1.1 trillion spending bill and a $622 billion package of tax cuts – it is expected to be approved by both chambers.
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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.
“When we return in January, the House will put an ObamaCare repeal bill on the floor and pass it and put it on the president’s desk”, Ryan told reporters Thursday.
But Pelosi said she does not know whether there will be enough Democratic support for the spending measure and that she has counseled members to study the legislation before deciding.
Solar and wind power would get five-year tax breaks in the spending bill, which the House is expected to vote on Friday, and Senate will vote on afterwards.
Republicans agreed to waive requirements that the bill be paid for by spending cuts or other tax offsets, raising concerns from budget watchdogs. But with conservatives in the House raising objections to spending levels and the lack of other favored policy provisions, it will need significant support from Democrats to pass the House. The Senate aimed to approve the tax bill Friday.
“This bill is a piecemeal approach to tax reform”.
But the huge House Republican majority revolted in early December against the size of a tax and spending plan their leaders had backed the previous month.
Pelosi declined to estimate how many House Democrats would vote for the bill.
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. arrives for an end-of-the-year news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015, as the Congress moves toward passage of a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill.
The American Farm Bureau Federation stated the bill has a lot of benefits for agriculture, especially in the area of tax relief.
But Democrats complained that a number of these temporary tax breaks were created to give a short-term boost to the economy and would lose their punch if made permanent. 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.
The greater than 2,000-page measure additionally does not embrace a provision to grant Puerto Rico businesses entry to Chapter 9 chapter because it faces its debt disaster.
Pelosi fought to index the child tax credit for inflation but was rebuffed by Republicans.
It does not prohibit the administration from resettling Syrian refugees in the USA, as many Republicans and some Democrats hoped, but it does include new anti-terrorism limits on visitors from 38 countries who can travel to the US without a visa.
The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act includes provisions permanently extending the research and development tax break and modifies limitations on what small businesses can write-off under Section 179 of the tax code. The delays can not derail the health care law, but they do indicate that battles over health care reform will continue long after President Barack Obama has left office.
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The appropriations package negotiated by congressional Republicans and Democrats will fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016.
