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Budget talks go on

Short-term bill sent to Obama

WASHINGTON — Congress sent President Barack Obama a short-term spending bill to keep the government open through next Wednesday as lawmakers and the White House rushed to finalize a $1.1 trillion governmentwide spending bill and a sprawling tax package.

The measure was approved by voice vote Friday hours ahead of a midnight deadline. The bill will give Congress and the administration more time to complete negotiations.

“I believe we’re making good progress on a final-year package,” said Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

Dozens of issues remain unresolved, most of them policy disputes over environmental and other issues that lawmakers of both parties are trying to attach to the must-pass spending legislation. Republicans are seeking to lift the oil export ban and roll back various Obama administration regulations; Democrats are maneuvering to protect Obama’s environmental rules and enact permanent tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable energy.

“We’re not going to get everything we want in negotiations. The Democrats aren’t going to get everything they want in negotiations,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters Thursday. “But I believe that we will successfully complete these negotiations.”

The two-year budget and debt deal passed earlier this year set the overall spending levels, but that left it up to the powerful Appropriations Committee to allocate the money ahead of the deadline for a partial government shutdown.

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