An $11 billion bill that would permanently restore expired tax breaks for donations of food, charitable contributions from certain retirement accounts and for land conservation faced a sudden setback this week as Press Secretary Josh Earnest signaled that a Presidential veto is likely.

Angela GreilingKeane of Bloomberg News asked in a “Press Gaggle“ aboard Air Force One:

“Q:  One other topic.  There’s a tax bill sponsored by Dave Camp that the tax committees are considering taking up in the next couple days that would make permanent some tax breaks for charities.  There was an earlier version that the White House earlier this year threatened to veto.  What’s the President’s opinion on the new version when they come up?

EARNEST: My understanding, Angela, without actually having seen the text of the legislation, is that it tracks very closely with the legislation that the President’s senior advisors had previously recommended he veto. So I think it’s fair for you to assume that our view of the new version that appears very similar to the old version is the same.”

 Though the bill had wide bipartisan support and had been approved by both House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR), it already faced procedural and timing issues that would have made it difficult to pass in the waning days of this Congress.

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Source:  Press Gaggle by White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest Aboard Air Force One En Route Nashville, Tennessee at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/12/09/press-gaggle-press-secretary-josh-earnest-aboard-air-force-one-en-route-