• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

House to try passing spending cuts this week

Posted on: Monday, 7 November 2005, 16:13 CST

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives this week will try to approve nearly $54 billion in spending cuts, and Republican leaders on Monday were still looking at ways to fine-tune the measure to avert defeat.

The budget bill might be debated on the House floor on Thursday, according to a senior House Republican aide.

But the aide, who asked not to be identified, said House leaders were still "figuring out how that package clears the House floor" and were discussing whether any of the more controversial elements of the package might be jettisoned.

Under pressure from Republican conservatives to find more savings over five years than the $36 billion approved by the Senate last week, the House legislation would reduce the number of legal immigrants who would qualify for food stamps and require tougher application procedures for all others wanting food stamps.

Those savings, coupled with controversial plans to open previously protected areas to oil drilling and to save money in child welfare and health care for the poor, have made many Republicans nervous.

A budget debate to change federal programs for the poor comes as Republicans in Congress are beginning to move tax-cut legislation that might include renewed breaks for the rich. The juxtaposition puts more than a dozen moderate House Republicans in a difficult spot.

On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee is expected to unveil around $60 billion in net tax cuts. A spokeswoman for the committee did not say whether they would include an extension of capital gains and dividends tax cuts expiring after 2008.

CONCERNS ABOUT SPENDING-CUTS

Moderate Republican Rep. Michael Castle of Delaware has "a lot of outstanding concerns" with the spending-cut bill, said spokeswoman Elizabeth Wenk.

She rattled off the Alaska and offshore oil drilling proposals, food stamp cuts and Medicare and Medicaid changes in that list.

A group of House Republican moderates are supposed to meet on Wednesday to discuss the budget bill and their attitude on the way out of that meeting could indicate just how difficult of a fight there will be on the legislation, or whether it has to be delayed.

Republican conservatives ramped up their quest for deeper-than-planned spending cuts to mandatory programs after watching the U.S budget deficit hit a record $412 billion in fiscal 2004, before falling back to a still high $319 billion the next year.

Their spending-cut goals have been complicated, however, by huge U.S. expenditures on the Iraq war and Gulf Coast hurricane cleanup. The $62 billion in emergency hurricane aid passed by Congress did, however, give conservatives a new opportunity for underscoring out-of-control deficit-spending.

Besides reducing costs on mandatory programs, conservatives also have been calling for across-the-board cuts to all, or most other federal programs.

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category