President Obama has signed a $1.8 trillion spending and tax cut package after Congress passed the deal in a rare moment of bipartisan unity. The measure expands military spending and provides a billion-dollar tax loophole sought by the hotel, restaurant and gambling industry. It also lifts the 40-year ban on exporting U.S.-produced crude oil, a move Oil Change International called “a disaster for the climate.” Democratic leaders said lifting the ban was crucial for winning Republican support. Obama praised Congress for passing the bill.

President Obama: “And today they passed a bipartisan budget deal. I’m not wild about everything in it. I’m sure that’s true for everybody. But it is a budget that, as I insisted, invests in our military and our middle class without ideological provisions that would have weakened Wall Street reform or rules on big polluters.”