U.S. House approves tax, energy, health care bill
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday approved legislation that extends popular tax breaks, opens the Gulf of Mexico to new oil and gas drilling and cancels a scheduled pay cut for doctors who treat the elderly under Medicare. A strong majority of the House voted for the legislation, one of the few remaining bills the Republican-led Congress hopes send to President George W. Bush before adjourning. The lawmakers were then expected to quickly take up a companion trade bill that will be joined with the tax measure and sent to the U.S. Senate. The bill, which will cost the federal treasury about $40 billion over five years, extends tax breaks for research and development and other popular causes, cancels a Medicare pay cut for doctors next year and opens some 8.3 million acres (3.4million hectares) in the eastern Gulf of Mexico near Florida to new oil and gas drilling.
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