GOP seeks to ease regulations on spending bill

• Tax “extenders.” Dozens of tax breaks for individuals and businesses expired in January. The House passed a bill last week extending them through the end of the year, so taxpayers can claim them on their 2014 returns. The Senate is expected to act this week.

• Tax-free savings accounts for people with disabilities. The House overwhelmingly approved a bill last week to allow Americans with disabilities to open tax-free bank accounts to pay for expenses from education to housing and health care.

• A ban on Internet access taxes. A provision that prevents state and local governments from taxing access to the Internet expires Thursday.

• Terrorism risk insurance. The federal government’s terrorism risk insurance program expires at the end of the year, and its renewal is important to economic sectors such as construction and hospitality.

• Defense policy. Last week, the Republican-controlled House approved a $585 billion defense policy bill that grants President Barack Obama the authority to expand the U.S. military campaign against Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria. The Senate is expected to take up the bill this week.

— Associated Press

GRUBER TESTIFIES TODAY

Republicans in Congress will get a chance today to air out a controversy over statements by an architect of President Barack Obama’s health care plan as the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee hears testimony from Jonathan Gruber. The MIT economist in a series of comments caught on video at academic forums last year said, among other things, that the Affordable Care Act relied on a “lack of transparency” and the “stupidity of the American voter” for passage — statements conservatives say bolster their contention that the law should be repealed. Gruber has said he regrets the statements, and Democrats have sought to downplay his role in drafting the legislation.

The funding legislation was one of a handful of must-pass items clogging the agenda for lawmakers eager to adjourn for the new year. Others were bills to extend dozens of expiring tax breaks, authorize President Barack Obama’s policy of arming Syrian rebels to fight Islamic state forces and a Democratic drive to confirm as many administration nominees as possible before the Republicans take control of the Senate in January.

Legislation to continue preventing state or local governments from imposing a tax on Internet access also seems likely to make it to Obama’s desk.

There was relatively little controversy over spending levels themselves in what is shaping up as a classic year-end measure that rolls numerous unrelated issues into a single package. The $1.1 trillion in total spending adheres to spending caps approved in previous negotiations between Obama and House Republicans. It includes more than $5 billion of the $6.2 billion the president requested to fight Ebola at home and overseas.

The money would be available to keep the government running through the Sept. 30, 2015 end of the fiscal year, except for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees border security programs. Even failure to complete work before Thursday at midnight would not lead to a government shutdown, since lawmakers are prepared to pass a stopgap bill for a day or two to make sure there was no interruption in federal services.

Unlike the rest of the government, funds would be made available for the Homeland Security Department only until late winter. Republicans hope that will allow them to use their new leverage to force Obama to roll back his decision suspending the threat of deportation for millions of immigrants in the country illegally. DHS is in charge of enforcing those regulations.

Business-friendly Republicans were largely united behind efforts to roll back a variety of government regulations, in what shaped up as something of a dress rehearsal for next year, when the GOP controls both houses of Congress.

Democratic officials said they had rejected several proposals to ease environmental regulations, and the fate of other attempts was unclear.

Among them was an attempt to ease a regulation by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association requiring truckers to take a 34-hour rest break at least once every seven days and that it span two periods between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. In a blog post, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the regulation had been upheld in court, and said efforts to overturn it “will put lives at risk.”

Officials said Republicans also sought a suspension of new school lunch program requirements supported by first lady Michelle Obama that require more fruits, vegetables and whole grains while limiting sodium, sugar and fat. Some school nutrition directors have lobbied for a break, saying the rules have proven to be costly and restrictive.

On the table, as well, is an attempt to ease some of the requirements in legislation that regulates the financial industry in the wake of the economy’s near collapse in the Great Recession. Republicans are seeking to include them as part of a bargain with Democrats who want to renew legislation that requires the federal government to assume some of the insurance risk in losses arising from terrorism. Without a renewal, the terrorism reinsurance program will lapse at year’s end.

There is also an attempt to ease new regulations that ban most interstate sales of ivory, despite a push by makers of musical instruments, antiques and guns made with ivory, who say the ban has lowered the value of their goods.

In addition, one official said Republicans are hoping to ease newly issued regulations that require restaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores and other establishments that sell prepared foods and have 20 or more locations to post the calorie content of food and beverages “clearly and conspicuously” on their menus, menu boards and displays.

The restaurant industry has been supportive in an effort to dodge an uneven patchwork of local rules. But the supermarket and convenience stores have lobbied to be left out, saying the labeling will be expensive and the costs would be passed on to consumers.