WASHINGTON — The House early Saturday approved a package of spending cuts, slashing more than $60 billion from domestic programs, foreign aid and some military projects, as the new Republican majority made good on its pledge to act to shrink the size and scope of government.
The 235-189 vote was a victory for fiscally conservative Republican freshmen who are determined to change the ways of Washington and have forced party leaders to pursue far bigger cuts than originally planned.
The Republican members of Arkansas’ House delegation - Rick Crawford, Tim Griffin and Steve Womack - voted in favor of the spending cuts, while Democrat Mike Ross opposed the package.
The vote 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 differences over health care, energy, social policy and the role of government.
With Congress now on a week-long recess for George Washington’s Birthday, lawmakers will return with just four days to agree on an extension of the stopgap measure now financing the government.
The Democratic-controlled Senate has signaled that it will not consider anything approaching the scale of cuts approved by the House, setting up a standoff that each side has warned could lead to a shutdown of the federal government early next month.
Shortly after the vote, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, at a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in Paris, expressed hope that Democrats and Republicans would find a way to cut spending and reduce long-term deficits. But, he said, the House-passed measure “would undermine and damage our capacity to create jobs and expand the economy.”
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In Washington, the fight in the weeks ahead will likely focus on paying for government operations through the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year and on whether to raise the federal debt ceiling.
The push by Republicans for spending cuts and new austerity is also shaking state capitals, including Madison, Wis., and Columbus, Ohio, where labor unions have begun protesting efforts to reduce benefits and weaken their collective-bargaining rights.
The House approved its $1.2 trillion spending measure in the pre-dawn darkness Saturday after four days and nights of floor debate - a marathon of legislating in which hundreds of amendments were put forward. Republican leaders lost votes on some of those amendments, in what they said was a testament to their commitment to allow a more open legislative process than their recent predecessors.
Republicans seemed to grow more excited as the final vote neared shortly after 4:30 a.m. EST.
“We have a mandate from the American people to cut spending,” declared Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill.
Immediately after the vote, Republican House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio said in a statement, “This week, for the first time in many years, the People’s House was allowed to work its will - and the result was one of the largest spending cuts in American history.”
Boehner added, “We will not stop here in our efforts to cut spending, not when we’re broke and Washington’s spending binge is making it harder to create jobs.”
Just three Republicans opposed the bill, while the House’s 186 Democrats voted unanimously against it.The Republicans who opposed the spending package were Reps. John Campbell of California and Jeff Flake of Arizona, both of whom had advocated for bigger reductions, and Rep. Walter B. Jones of North Carolina, who often disagrees with his party.
The Republicans’ plan would quickly impose sharp spending reductions in nearly every area of government. However, their bill appears to have little chance of becoming law in its current form.
President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats have said the cuts would harm the economic recovery, and the White House threatened to veto the bill even before it was approved. The Democrats said Obama’s budget proposal, which calls for a five-year freeze in many spending areas, is a more reasonable approach. But Republicans have rejected it as insufficient.
Senate Democrats said they have already proposed more than $40 million in reductions for the rest of the fiscal year, which they said reflected a willingness to negotiate with Republicans. “Democrats believe we should make smart cuts - cuts that target waste and excess, not slash the programs that keep us safe and keep the economy growing,” the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said in a statement after the vote.
The stopgap measure now financing the government expires March 4. With Congress in recess this week, party leaders have said there is not enough time to forge a deal and that a short-term extension will be needed to avert a shutdown of the government.
But with the tone in the House growing more strident over the four days of debate and politically charged amendments dominating the action Friday, lawmakers have begun to face the possibility that even a temporary accord will be difficult to achieve.
Boehner has said he would not agree to a short-term extension without additional cuts from spending, which is now being held generally at 2010 levels. Democrats, meanwhile, have not shown any willingness to give ground, apparently betting that Republicans will be held responsible for a shutdown as they were in 1995 during a standoff with former President Bill Clinton’s administration.
The House Democratic leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, late Friday put forward a temporary extension of the stopgap measure that would maintain expenditures as they are, generally at 2010levels, and avert a shutdown through March 31. Republicans quickly dismissed it.
Democrats for weeks have warned that Republicans are risking a shutdown by showing no flexibility in the spending debate.
Even without a government shutdown, there were warnings that the Republican cuts could hobble federal agencies. The Securities and Exchange Commission, for instance, which is in charge of carrying out a sweeping new financial regulation law, will end up with $25 million less than last year, and that was before the financial regulations law was adopted.
In a letter to employees Thursday, the Social Security Administration warned of furloughs “given the potential of reduced congressional appropriations for the remainder of the fiscal year.”
The cuts also hit some programs that had support among Republican leaders, including an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The House voted to cancel the engine to save $450 million in the short term.
Up to the very end, the Republican Study Committee, a conservative bloc, continued to push for even bigger cuts, putting forward an amendment Friday to slice $22 billion more. That amendment was defeated, as senior Republicans, including the majority leader, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, and veteran members of the Appropriations Committee, teamed up with Democrats to hit the brakes.
The Senate will control crucial negotiations in the current spending fight. Senate Republicans have said they support the overall goals of their House counterparts but have not committed to making identical cuts, and Democrats have a majority in that chamber.
In a reminder of his chamber’s role in the process, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and chairman of the Appropriations Committee, issued a statement expressing a desire for compromise.
“It is my sincere hope that all the parties will remain reasonable as we seek to fund the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year,” he said. “Neither house of Congress is in a position to dictate terms to the other, so I remain hopeful that we will come to a sensible accommodation.” Information for this article was contributed by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/20/2011