{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://thornberry.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398081", "House passes budget and tax bills", "2015-12-18", "2015", "2015-12", "Republican", "House", "TX", "William Thornberry", "T000238", "thornberry.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) voted this week in support of the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015 that passed the House by vote of 318-109 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 that passed by a vote of 316-113.There are a number of good and important provisions for the country and for our area in these bills, said Thornberry. While there are also a number of provisions that I support  and have voted for  that did not survive negotiations, many did. Some of the chief provisions include: Providing essential funding for our military;  \r\nRepealing the 40-year-old ban on exporting crude oil;  \r\nLimiting EPA funding to its lowest level since 2008;  \r\nRepealing the Country-of Origin-Labeling (COOL) law that threatened to harm the beef and other livestock industries;  \r\nExtending and then phasing out the wind production tax credit;  \r\nDelaying implementation of several provisions and taxes associated with Obamacare; and  \r\nStrengthening security of the Visa Waiver Program. The PATH bill also made permanent over 20 tax provisions that Congress has been extending one year at a time, making it difficult for businesses and individuals to plan. These permanent deductions include: State and local sales tax deduction, which is important in states like Texas that do not have a state income tax;  \r\nSection 179 expensing for small businesses;  \r\nThe Research and Development Tax Credit;  \r\nCharitable deduction for contributions of food inventory; and  \r\nMany other tax provisions were extended for two or five years. Finally, attached to the measure is a cybersecurity bill, similar to that recommended by the Cyber Security Task Force, which Thornberry chaired in 2011 and 2012. ###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://thornberry.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398081"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 4.565894138067961, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}