Washington Digest: Congress faces tough debate on reducing debt
WASHINGTON -- More than six months after the fiscal year began, Congress last week grudgingly approved a budget for 2011 that averted a looming government shutdown and cut about $40 billion in spending.
By passing the bill, Congress ended a bitter battle that had brought the government to the brink of partial closure. While that crisis was avoided, Congress faces a series of difficult debates ahead over how to reduce the public debt that now tops $14.2 trillion.
President Barack Obama and leaders in the House and Senate negotiated a compromise that cut nearly $40 billion from agency budgets this year. That total fell short of the $61 billion House Republicans had wanted.
A final sticking point involved federal funding that Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortions, receives to provide health screenings and other nonabortion care. Although federal money is prohibited from being used for abortions, conservatives argued that any federal support of the organization indirectly helped Planned Parenthood's abortion mission.
The spending plan faced its steepest challenge in the House, where liberals opposed cuts in assistance to the poor while conservatives favored deeper reductions to a variety of programs in an effort to rein in spending.
The compromise cleared the House, 260-167.
Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Joe Heck, R-Nev., voted for the deal. Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., opposed it.
The vote for passage in the Senate was 81-19. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., voted for it. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., opposed it.
Planned Parenthood and
health reform defended
As part of the compromise, House and Senate leaders agreed to hold separate votes on defunding Planned Parenthood, and also on defunding the health care overhaul Congress passed last year.
Defunding Planned Parenthood cleared the House, 241-185, but failed in the Senate, 47-53.
Heck and Heller voted to defund Planned Parenthood. Berkley voted against defunding it. In the Senate, Ensign voted to defund while Reid voted against defunding it.
Blocking the health care law cleared the House, 240-185, but was rejected in the Senate, 42-58.
Heck and Heller voted to defund the law. Berkley voted against defunding. In the Senate, Ensign voted to defund while Reid voted against defunding the law.
House passes GOP budget for 2012
The House approved a 2012 budget blueprint written by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
The vote was 235-195. No Democrats voted for it.
Republicans said the plan to cut more than $6 trillion in spending over a decade was needed to reduce the federal debt and keep major health programs sustainable.
Democrats strongly objected to a provision that would transform Medicare into a voucher-type system that they charged would cost seniors thousands of dollars extra each year to maintain care.
Heck and Heller voted for the GOP budget. Berkley voted against it.
Contact Stephens Washington Bureau reporter Peter Urban at purban@stephensmedia.com or at 202-783-1760.
