“It looks like Congress is serious about avoiding the scheduled expiration of trillions of dollars’ worth of tax cuts that some believe would risk pushing the tentative U.S. economy over a “fiscal cliff.”

Congress recently passed legislation repealing a provision that would have required federal, state and local governments to withhold 3% of any payments over $10,000 from government contractors and certain other vendors. The provision was intended to combat tax avoidance, but critics argued that it would restrict the cash flow of businesses and was too costly to implement.