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Washington, D.C.—Congressional passage of a spending-and-tax bill ends the anxiety and nervousness federal employees felt as they braced for a government shutdown during the December holidays, the head of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said today.

“Federal employees no longer will be nervously watching the clock for looming funding deadlines,” said NTEU National President Tony Reardon. “Congress, by providing a full year of funding for all agencies, will allow federal employees to focus on accomplishing their missions and serving the public.”

The House overwhelmingly passed a tax-extenders bill Thursday and approved an omnibus spending bill this morning. The Senate combined both those bills into one and approved it. The final stop for the measure is the White House. The president has indicated he will sign the bill.

NTEU fought hard to protect federal pay and benefits and to make sure agencies receive appropriate levels of funding.

Congress did not block an across-the-board federal pay raise for calendar year 2016, allowing the administration’s recommended average increase of 1.3 percent to take effect in January. The House and Senate were also silent on locality pay areas for next year, which means the administration’s plan to add 13 new locality pay areas to the 33 existing regions—a decision NTEU strongly supported—will proceed in 2016.

“We will continue to advocate for greater pay increases in 2017 and beyond. But we also recognize that federal employees, and their pay, benefits and due process rights, could have been directly targeted in the omnibus, which was not the case,” President Reardon said.

Under the legislation, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) would be required to provide credit monitoring and identity theft protection services for 10 years to millions of individuals affected by the recent data breaches. President Reardon said the 10-year plan, which would also provide $5 million in ID theft protection, is a significant improvement over OPM’s current proposal to provide $1 million in ID theft protection and one to three years of coverage.

The bill would also delay the onset of the so-called Cadillac tax on certain health insurance plans by two years—to 2020 instead of 2018—giving NTEU more time to work to protect the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

Congress ended up giving the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) a small funding increase despite threats of additional reductions for an agency that’s already reeling from cuts totaling $1.2 billion over the past five years. The IRS would receive $11.23 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2016, an increase of $290 million over the current level, specifically to improve customer service, better combat identity theft and improve cybersecurity.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would receive $41 billion in discretionary funding—$1.3 billion above the current level. The bill includes $11 billion for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), $349 million above 2015 level. That amount would support 23,775 CBP Officers at ports of entry in FY 2016.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would receive $132 million more than its FY 2015 appropriation.

Another key highlight of the combined spending-and-tax bill

Congress is sending to the White House is that it establishes permanent parity between the federal parking and transit benefits.

Previously, the maximum transit benefit was $130 a month whereas the parking benefit was $250 a month. In 2016, both the transit and parking benefits will rise to $255 a month.

“NTEU has fought for transit-parking parity for years and I’m pleased that we were finally able to get it done this year,” President Reardon said. “This is a win-win for the federal workforce and the environment. This will encourage more federal employees to take public transportation to work, which will ease traffic congestion, reduce air pollution and save energy.”

NTEU, the nation’s largest independent federal-employee union, represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.