House Votes to Slash Spending

The Republican-controlled House, taking aim at everything from health care to the environment, has voted to cut more than $60 billion from the federal budget.

Domestic social programs, foreign aid and even some military projects are also targeted by the anti-spending crusade. —JCL

The New York Times:

The House voted early Saturday to slash more than $60 billion from the federal budget over the next seven months, showing how powerfully the grass-roots, antispending fervor of the November elections is driving the new Republican majority’s efforts to shrink the size and scope of government.

The vote, in favor of deep reductions in domestic programs, foreign aid and even some military projects, put the two parties on a path to a quick succession of showdowns over the deficit and the nation’s accumulated and growing debt. The debate has been made all the more bitter by long-simmering political feuds over health care, energy, social policy and a fundamental divide over the proper role of government.

The vote, 235 to 189, was a victory for the large, boisterous class of fiscally conservative Republican freshmen that is fiercely determined to change the ways of Washington and that forced party leaders to pursue far bigger cuts than originally planned.

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AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais

A statue of George Washington occupies the rotunda in the U.S. Capitol building in Washington.