Winners, losers on the Hill as year-end bills move

Lawmakers also must pass a package of spending bills by Dec. 11 to keep the government funded, and extend dozens of expiring tax breaks, some dear to Democrats and others favored by Republicans.

The small federal agency that makes and guarantees loans to help foreign customers buy U.S. exports was allowed to expire over the summer as conservatives denounced it as corporate welfare.

Rural lawmakers have fought to protect crop insurance, saying it makes more sense than other farm subsidies since it pays out when farmers suffer losses.

The banking industry and its congressional allies like House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, suffered a bitter defeat.

To finance some of the highway bill, the compromise package cuts the dividend the Federal Reserve pays to large banks from 6 percent to 1.5 percent, and transfers about $49 billion over 10 years from a Federal Reserve capital account to the general treasury, counting the money as new revenue.

Democrats claim McConnell refused to allow the provision in the highway bill unless they agreed in exchange to lifting the ban on oil exports.