Highlights of $373 Billion Spending Bill

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/7349489.htm

Highlights of a $373 billion bill that congressional and White House bargainers agreed to on Tuesday financing much of the government for the federal budget year that began Oct. 1. House and Senate votes could come next month.

_Agencies financed: Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, Veterans Affairs. Also covers the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, the federal courts, assistance to the District of Columbia, and U.S. foreign aid programs.

_$4.6 billion for the FBI, $423 million over last year.

_$1.2 billion for Amtrak, $180 million over last year.

_Nearly $4.9 billion for the federal judicial system, $240 million over last year.

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_Delays for two years required labels that identify the country many foods come from. They were due to take effect next September. Wild and farm-raised fish would stick with the earlier schedule.

_Forbids the U.S. Patent Office from granting patents on human organisms, such as genetically engineered embryos.

_Lets networks own television stations reaching 39 percent of viewers, up from 35 percent.

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