Government Shutdown 2015: Congress to Vote on $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill on Friday
Before Congress goes on its holiday hiatus, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on a long-term federal spending bill on Friday and year-end tax on Thursday to prevent a government shutdown.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., announced Wednesday that the House will vote Friday on the $1.14 trillion end-of-the-year spending bill, reports Fox News. In the meantime, Congress will pass another stop-gap resolution that will keep the government running since they missed the original deadline to pass the bill. That short-term continuing resolution will be in effect until Dec. 22, so that the Senate will have the time needed to pass both the tax and spending bills.
Republicans and Democrats spent the weekend and the early part of the week working to complete the spending bill for the 2016 fiscal year, in addition to a package that grants up to $750 billion in tax breaks for businesses and low-income workers.
Republicans and Democrats, however, have clashed over several policy provisions that GOP lawmakers want to attach to the bill, despite President Barack Obama's promise to veto a bill that includes certain amendments.
Despite opposition to the bill in both parties, Obama is expected to sign the bill.
During an interview with Fox News, Ryan said Republicans and Democrats were forced to compromise on the bill.
"We didn't win everything we wanted," he said. "Democrats got some things they wanted. So that's the nature of compromises in divided government. But all told, we'll make sure that we keep government funded and that we advance some of our priorities and, namely, that's to create jobs."
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, also said that lawmakers were finally able to settle on a key point of contention over an oil export ban. Republicans called for a lift on a 40-year ban on the export of U.S. crude oil. However, Democrats said they would only agree to lift the ban if the bill included a five-year extension of tax credits for wind and solar energy. Democrats also successfully pushed back on a GOP measure to block Obama's environmental regulations.
"We've made it clear that if they want this oil export ban, there must be included in this (bill) policies to reduce our carbon emissions and encourage use of renewable energy," Reid said Tuesday morning, reports USA Today.
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