By Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Brushing aside concerns about deepening the budget deficit, U.S. lawmakers approved $1.8 trillion worth of federal spending and tax breaks on Friday in a rare show of bipartisan cooperation after years of damaging fiscal fights in Congress. The Senate voted 65-33 to approve sweeping legislation that averted a government shutdown, locked in billions of dollars of tax breaks and scrapped a 40-year-old ban on the export of U.S. oil. It was a win for new House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who managed to keep fiscal hawks in his Republican caucus under control during weeks of talks and avoid the kind of infighting that plagued his predecessor John Boehner.
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U.S. lawmakers back big tax breaks in $1.8 billion bill
