Deal reached on spending bill; Cuba travel language dropped

By David Espo and Alan Fram

From the Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional negotiators reached agreement Thursday on a compromise spending bill to avert a weekend federal shutdown. They also worked toward a deal renewing the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits for another year but prepared a shorter version as a fallback.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters he was still optimistic that bipartisan talks on yearlong extensions of the Social Security payroll tax cut and unemployment coverage would succeed. But as a “Plan B,” he said, they were working on a two-month extension as well, which would also prevent cuts in Medicare reimbursements for doctors during that period.

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A deal on a $1 trillion spending bill was reached after Republicans agreed to drop language that would have blocked President Barack Obama’s liberalized rules on people who visit and send money to relatives in Cuba. But a GOP provision will stay in the bill thwarting an Obama administration rule on energy efficiency standards that critics argued would make it hard for people to purchase inexpensive incandescent light bulbs.

The House is expected to approve the spending measure Friday, and the Senate could follow suit, possibly the same day.

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