Here are 4 massive policy changes that Congress tucked into its 2,371-page spending package

Congress is scrapping three taxes aimed at funding the ACA: the Cadillac tax, the health insurance tax, and the medical device tax.

The Cadillac tax was supposed to raise $200 billion over ten years with a tax on the most generous insurance plans. But a coalition of business and patient advocacy groups mobilized to oppose the tax in 2015 and it never went into effect. The House overwhelmingly voted to kill it earlier this year.

The health insurance tax generated government revenue from insurers while the medical device tax applied to products like hospital beds and X-ray machines. Both were sporadically put in place.

The taxes sparked controversy and they were not popular even among Democrats. But the healthcare industry came out ahead and scored big wins in the budget.

The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that axing the taxes would save the industry over $380 billion.

The Export-Import Bank helps US businesses compete abroad with affordable government-backed loans that boost their exports – while also lending to overseas corporations seeking to buy domestically.

The spending deal would fund it for seven years, rendering it active after legislative battles effectively crippled the agency years ago.

Republicans long assailed the Ex-Im bank for easing multibillion dollar deals allowing companies abroad to buy airplanes or arrange infrastructure contracts with domestic producers. They argue its similar to the government picking winners and losers.

Supporters, though, contend the bank levels the playing field between American manufacturers and foreign buyers that receive support from their own government.

The spending bill will empower the government to once again fund research into the causes of gun violence, which Democrats touted as a major success.

The $25 million will be split between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Health. Republicans, though, crafted language stipulating the money couldn't be used to push gun control measures.

Congress had been barred since 1996 from earmarking money to study gun violence

The CDC reported that 39,773 people died from gun-related injuries in 2017, the last year with data fully available.