I posted this a few minutes ago:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2646006http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a4AooG51fYbw&refer=homeRepublican Rule in Congress Ends With Tax Cuts, Trade Measure
By Nicholas Johnston
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Congress ended 12 years of Republican control by passing tax breaks, trade benefits and a nuclear accord with India, while leaving most budget work unfinished until Democrats take over in January.
Working past 2 a.m., lawmakers also overhauled the U.S. Postal Service and made it illegal to use a false identity to gain access to phone records. <SNIP>
Among the last acts of the Republican-led Congress was passing a measure that extends $38 billion in corporate and individual tax breaks that mostly expired last year. It also allows expanded oil and gas drilling off U.S. coasts and prevents a fee cut for doctors who are paid by Medicare.
The measure renews a $16.3 billion research tax credit that benefits companies such as Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett- Packard Co., and St. Louis-based Monsanto Co., while including $1 billion incentive for retailers such as Bentonville, Arkansas- based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to hire welfare recipients, $2.7 billion for the restaurant industry by allowing faster amortization of construction and money to help clean up abandoned mines.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/09/CONGRESS.TMPThe 367-45 vote on the tax bill reflected widespread bipartisan support for extending expired tax breaks, including a research and development tax credit for businesses, a tax deduction on college tuition, a tax credit for hiring welfare recipients and others, and tax credits for alternative energy producers and purchases of solar energy equipment by homeowners and businesses.
All told, the tax cuts would cost $38 billion over five years
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/12/09/gop_senator_upbraids_colleagues/Gregg did not return calls seeking comment after his speech. He was angered by the $45 billion package of tax cuts that was prepared by Republican leaders in the closing hours of the congressional session.
Marbled into the bill's 500 pages were extensions of the popular research and development and student loan tax deductions, a provision allowing taxpayers to deduct sales taxes from their federal taxes if they live in states that do not have income taxes, and a laundry list of special-interest tax cuts.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-congress9dec09,0,2209156,full.story?coll=la-news-politics-national<SNIP>Lawmakers worked several healthcare measures into the tax bill, including legislation to cancel a scheduled 5% cut in payments to doctors who treat elderly Medicare recipients, and changes that would allow individuals to put more money into tax-sheltered health savings accounts, a new type of medical insurance favored by many Republicans.
Separately, the tax bill also addressed some unintended consequences of legislation that Congress passed last year to keep illegal immigrants from getting healthcare benefits through the Medicaid program for the poor. Hundreds of thousands of people who were legally entitled to benefits were inadvertently subjected to new requirements that they provide documents proving their citizenship. Some were frail seniors who had never been issued a birth certificate.
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However, Democrats bitterly criticized the provisions that would expand health-savings accounts. Many individuals use the tax-sheltered accounts to pay for routine bills while carrying low-cost "catastrophic" insurance for major medical problems.
Under the legislation, individuals would be able to contribute more money to the accounts, known as HSAs, and roll over limited amounts from Individual Retirement Accounts and other sources.
Some Democrats say the accounts provide a way for upper-income individuals to shelter more of their wealth from taxes and could undermine traditional insurance.<SNIP>