Late Tuesday evening, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced negotiators had come to an agreement on the “omnibus” government funding bill and tax break extension package.
Just before midnight, legislation was posted that would make 22 tax breaks permanent and extend dozens of other tax incentives.
“How can families and local businesses count on tax relief each year as long as Congress can’t decide what’s permanent and what’s not? That confusion ends now, and our economy will be stronger for it,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said in a statement upon the bill’s release. “By delivering permanent tax relief, we’re making it easier for Americans to keep more of their own money, find new jobs, and increase their wages.”
After weeks of negotiations, the $1.1 trillion, 2,009 page omnibus package that would keep the government funded until September 2016, was rolled out just after 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers said the legislation is a step in the right direction in Ryan’s call to not rush critical legislation.
“The road to this final bill has not been easy, but it has been an open process that followed ‘regular order’ to the maximum extent possible,” Rogers said in a statement. “Over the course of the last year, the Appropriations Committee held over 100 hearings, and approved each of the 12 individual funding bills through an open committee process where dozens upon dozens of amendments were debated.”
Sources close to negotiations told The Daily Caller News Foundation that lawmakers had hoped to vote on the must-pass spending measure Thursday, but due to a rule requiring legislation be posted for at least three days — at the earliest — it will hit the floor for a vote Friday.
Both chambers are expected to pass a second short-term measure to fund the government until Dec. 22 as the current short-term measure expires at midnight.
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