House OKs package of tax cuts, 1st leg of year-end budget deal

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Republicans overwhelmed divided Democrats to whisk tax breaks for businesses, families and special interests through the House on Thursday as Congress sped toward final votes on a year-crowning budget accord that will also bankroll the government in 2016.

The tax measure, approved 318-109, includes political coups for both parties. 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.

“Finally, with this tax bill, families and businesses are going to have the long-term certainty that they need instead of scrambling year after year to find out what’s next,” declared House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

Ryan, who just six weeks ago succeeded the deposed former Speaker John Boehner, all but claimed the bill’s passage as a personal triumph, citing it as an example of his drive “to get our House back on track.” The Senate aimed to approve the tax bill today.

Both chambers also planned votes today on the second leg of the budget compromise, a $1.1 trillion measure financing government, after which Congress was set to adjourn until January.

Overall, the budget pact was a modest one with many on each side describing it as the best deal they could get under divided government. It was arguably most noteworthy for what it didn’t include, such as GOP efforts to halt Planned Parenthood’s federal money and Democratic pushes for stiffened gun curbs.

Though Republicans voted nearly in lockstep for the tax measure, it split Democrats, who opposed it by 106-77. Though some Democrats said it was an opportunity to make family tax breaks permanent, others complained it was too skewed toward business.

They also said its price tag – exceeding $600 billion over a decade – would swell federal deficits and make money scarcer for domestic programs the party treasures.