WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Congress has reached agreement on a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government for the 2016 budget year and extend $680 billion in tax cuts for businesses and individuals. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the legislation. Here are the highlights:
TAXES
—Family tax credits. Permanently extends recent changes to the $1,000 child tax credit that make it refundable to families with little tax liability; makes permanent a $1,800 college tuition tax credit and a more generous tax credit for low-income working families.
—Sales tax deduction. Permanently extends a deduction of state and local sales taxes in states without an income tax.
—Business tax breaks. Permanently extends several business tax breaks, including the research and development tax credit and a deduction for small business equipment purchases. Extends tax deduction for "bonus" depreciation of business property purchases and a variety of breaks for race horses, NASCAR tracks, and television and film production. Extends tax breaks for energy produced from renewable sources such as solar, wind, and geothermal energy and tax breaks for biodiesel fuels and electric cars and motorcycles.
SPENDING
—Provides $1.15 trillion to fund the daily operating budgets of each Cabinet agency through Sept. 30, 2016, including $607 billion for defense, which includes $59 billion for overseas military operations. Non-defense programs would receive $543 billion. The departments of Justice, Veterans Affairs and Defense won generous increases, as did NASA.
HEALTH CARE LAW
—Delays for two years the scheduled 2018 implementation of a "Cadillac tax" on more generous health insurance plans; imposes a two-year pause in a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices and a one-year delay in a tax on health insurance providers.
—Blocks funds for "risk corridors" in which the government provides relief to health insurers with deep losses.
ADD-ONS
—Repeals the four-decade ban on exports of U.S. crude oil.
—Reauthorizes national intelligence programs.
—Tightens several security requirements of the visa waiver program, which allows citizens of 38 countries to travel to the U.S. without visas. A key element would also deny visa waivers to those who have traveled to countries such as Syria and Iraq in the last five years.
—Includes cybersecurity legislation that would encourage companies to share cyber threat information with the government.
—Extends a program championed by the New York delegation that provides health care and disability payments to 9/11 first responders who worked in the toxic ruins of the World Trade Center.
—Reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which devotes fees from offshore oil and gas production to create national parks, purchase buffers zones around rivers and lakes, and provide matching grants for state and local projects.
