Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016

Highlights:

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 provides FY2016 appropriations; extends expiring tax provisions; and affects policies in areas including oil exports, intelligence, cybersecurity, health care, financial services, visa waivers, and conservation.

The bill provides appropriations for the federal government through the end of FY2016. The twelve regular appropriations bills included in the divisions of the bill increase discretionary spending above FY2015 levels, which reflects the increased discretionary spending limits included in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.

The bill also includes Overseas Contingency Operations and emergency funding which is not subject to discretionary spending limits.

The bill includes authorizing provisions that:

reauthorize intelligence programs;

create a voluntary cybersecurity information sharing process and modify federal network information security procedures;

end the ban on U.S. crude oil exports;

modify procedures for the Visa Waiver Program;

reauthorize health and compensation programs for 9/11 first responders;

extend or make permanent expiring tax provisions;

adjust Medicare payment rates for hospitals in Puerto Rico;

suspend several tax provisions included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA);

modify financial services laws related to issues including the sale of the Department of the Treasury's preferred stock in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the confidentiality of information shared with regulators, and affiliate transactions;

reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund;

authorize direct loans to Iraq; and

authorize grants to better understand and utilize the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes.

The bill exempts specified provisions that affect revenues or direct spending from the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (PAYGO), the Senate PAYGO rule, and discretionary spending limits.

Full Summary:

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016

(Sec. 3) Provides that references to "this Act" included in any division refer only to the provisions of the division unless the bill expressly provides otherwise.

(Sec. 4) Provides that the explanatory statement printed in the Congressional Record regarding this bill has the same effect as a joint explanatory statement of a committee of conference.

The summary continues for 2844 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov

Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Public Law" stage on December 18, 2015. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.

Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.