House Republicans Chopping Fiscal 2011 Budget

As part of their election pledge to chopp off $100b of government spending, House Republicans on February 19, 2011 approved a measure, by 235-189 votes (oppossing votes have been cast by all 186 Democrats and three Republican members), aimed at cutting the spending for the remainder of Fiscal 2011 by $61b. Most of the 87 freshman Republicans, helped elected by the Tea Party movement, wanted to cut more, but Republican leaders in concert with the Democratic lawmakers scuttled a measure championed by the conservative Republican Study Committee to ax government by an additional $22 billion. The four-day of gruelling debate was centered around the scope and scale of governance, ideological posturings and possible impact of the extreme measures inserted in some of more than 400 amendments submitted. Initially the Republican leadership was intent on a modest cut of $35 billion, but the move was torpedoed by the rebellious freshmen Republicans few weeks ago. Now the battle line (as blogged by Prabir based on reports as of February 20, 2011) is drawn as the current funding of government will expire March 4, 2011.