Bush signs last 2006 Congressional bill.

The last bill of the 2006 Republican controlled Congress has been signed into law by the President. The new law:
• Extends through the end of next year a deduction for research and development initiatives.
• Renews a deduction of up to $4,000 for higher education costs.
• Gives tax breaks for teachers who pay for supplies out of their own pockets.
• Lets taxpayers deduct state and local sales taxes instead of state and local income taxes, a provision that primarily benefits those in states with no income taxes.
• Opens up 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling, and offers a dozen credits promoting alternative and efficient uses of energy.
• Prevents a 5% cut in Medicare payments to doctors from taking effect Jan. 1.
• Renews, with increased federal contributions, a program to help clean up abandoned coal mines and provide health care for miners who worked for companies that have gone out of business.
• Permanently normalizes trade with Vietnam and extends trade benefits for four Andean nations, sub-Saharan African countries and Haiti.