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Lobbyists say bargainers had tentatively agreed to postpone the launch of a tax on high-value health insurance plans from 2018 to 2020. There may also be a two-year pause in the existing 2.3 percent medical device tax and a one-year suspension of a levy currently imposed on health insurers, which the companies generally pass on to customers as higher premiums. (Fram, 12/15)

Speaker Paul Ryan told House Republicans on Monday night that the yearlong $1.1 trillion government-funding bill contains policy victories for the GOP, but not as many as lawmakers will want. (Sherman and Bresnahan, 12/14)

Rep. Joe Courtney expects to soon have at least a partial victory in his effort to eliminate a provision in the Affordable Care Act that has been attacked by both labor and business groups. The controversial measure in the ACA would impose a “Cadillac tax” on high-cost health plans provided by employers to their employees. (Radelat, 12/14)

Mr. McConnell can tick off the bills he sees as victories — a budget, a long-sought solution to a perennial problem with Medicare doctor fees, the first changes to Social Security in decades, a cybersecurity bill, a reconciliation measure undercutting the health care law, Keystone XL oil pipeline approval, the Iran nuclear review law and, most recently, major transportation and education bills. He admits he could not have compiled those achievements without significant help from an unlikely quarter — the Senate Democrats he so frustrated in his position as minority leader. (Hulse, 12/14)