U.S. House approves export tax bill WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval on Tuesday to legislation aimed at averting billions of dollars in sanctions against U.S. goods in a heated dispute with Europe over tax breaks for American exporters. After months of delay, the House voted overwhelmingly in favor of White House-backed legislation repealing the Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) program, which doles out tax breaks to U.S. exporters through offshore subsidiaries, sending it to President Bill Clinton to be signed into law. The vote should delay at least until June $4 billion or more in threatened European Union sanctions against U.S. products, and possibly avert them altogether. White House officials said Clinton would swiftly sign the bill into law. The Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled last February that the FSC program was an illegal export subsidy, handing the EU a major trade victory. The EU set a final deadline of Nov. 17 for Congress and the president to enact the legislation, setting off a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill culminating in Tuesday's passage.
