| Aides: Deal reached on catchall trade, tax bill
POSTED: 10:04 p.m. EST, December 7, 2006
Story Highlights
• NEW: Negotiators reach deal on multibillion dollar tax, trade bill, aides say
• NEW: Despite deal, passage of the bill still uncertain
• Bill includes Vietnam trade deal, college tuition tax breaks, drilling measure
• House must fund government through February 15
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional negotiators Thursday reached agreement on a massive tax and trade package that is the main obstacle to bringing the 109th session of Congress to an end.
Congressional aides said lawmakers had reached agreement on the legislation, which would extend tax breaks affecting millions of people, normalize trade with Vietnam and save doctors from an impending cut in Medicare payments.
"We have agreements across the board," said Kevin Madden, a spokesman for House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.
With approval of the package, Congress would be set to end the lame-duck session and make way for the new Democratic-controlled Congress in January.
But the massive package -- containing much to please lawmakers and their constituents -- also generated opposition from senators such as Judd Gregg, R-New Hampshire, who is unhappy about its price tag and a multibillion dollar move to expand health care for retired coal miners.
Under Senate rules, any single member could force days of delay, and passage of the bill was not a sure thing.
"It's no better than 50/50 right now," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada.
Rep. James McGovern, D-Massachusetts, said it was typical that Republicans were rushing a huge bill to the floor that lawmakers would not have time to read or amend. "This is a sad but fitting way to end the 109th Congress," he said.
Pending business
Congress is trying to deal with two major issues:
• It must approve the continued funding of federal programs at fiscal 2006 levels because this Congress failed, with the exception of defense and homeland security bills, to agree on any annual spending bills for the 2007 fiscal year that began October 1.
The GOP plan is to stretch current funding amounts until February 15, leaving for the new Democratic leaders the problem of how to deal with tough spending and deficit issues.
Top Democratic leaders blasted Republicans for leaving behind more than $460 billion in unfinished budget business that promises to clutter the Democratic agenda early next year.
"They are going to leave a mess as they go out," said Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi, D-California. "It's been a do-nothing Congress and as they go out the door they are going to validate the decision of the American people that change was necessary."
• Congress also must address a package of tax breaks, many of which expired at the beginning of 2006. Included are an extension of college tuition deductions, costing $3.3 billion over two years; an option for taxpayers in states without income taxes to deduct state and local sales taxes, costing $5.5 billion; a research and development tax credit, costing $16.5 billion; and a deduction for teachers who spend their own money for classroom supplies, costing $379 million.
The tax breaks are supported by both parties, but efforts to extend them have been thwarted by moves to link them to other, more controversial, bills.
The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday introduced a multifaceted, 500-page bill that included the tax breaks, myriad trade measures including the Vietnam bill, and various health measures, among them promoting greater access to health care in rural areas and blocking a planned Medicare cut in payments to physicians, at a cost of $10 billion for a year.
The bill also encompasses a stalled plan to open more than 8 million acres along the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling and expand an abandoned coal mine reclamation program, estimated to cost up to $5 billion over 10 years.
"These are solid proposals on tax cuts, trade provisions and the health care Americans need," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.
The Vietnam bill would end the Cold War requirement that trade with the communist state be reviewed every year. While supported by the Bush administration, it has met opposition from critics of Vietnam's human rights record and those worried about the impact on American jobs.
The trade package also would extend or expand trade breaks for Haiti, sub-Saharan Africa and Andean nations, again drawing opposition from supporters of the beleaguered U.S. textile industry.
Also still on the agenda was congressional approval of an agreement with India that would allow the United States to ship civilian nuclear fuel and technology to that country.
The Senate also voted Thursday, 89-6, to cut off a filibuster by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, of the nomination of Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach to head the Food and Drug Administration.
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