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House passes health, labor budget
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Author: Amy Fagan
| House passes health, labor budget |
Sticking points remain as Congress wraps up spending, tax cuts
Section: NATION, pg. A04
The House
yesterday passed a $142.5 billion measure to fund health, labor and
education programs, as Congress prepared to finish work for the year
that includes negotiating budget bills that would reduce entitlement
spending and extend expiring tax cuts.
The health,
labor and education bill squeaked through the House by a vote of
215-213, almost a month after facing defeat. To assure passage, leaders
made changes that included increased funds for rural health programs.
Meanwhile,
acting House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican, said he
would like to see the spending-reduction and tax-cut budget bills
completed this week.
The biggest
sticking point with the spending cuts is whether the final bill will
include a Senate provision allowing drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska.
Sen. Ted
Stevens, Alaska Republican, insists on keeping the ANWR provision, but
several of the more liberal House Republicans have pledged to vote
against the final bill if it includes the provision.
Rep. Mike
Pence, Indiana Republican and chairman of the conservative House
Republican Study Committee, said most RSC members want a vote on the
bill before Christmas, regardless of ANWR's inclusion and support.
"We simply
cannot allow a few senators or a few members of the House to derail the
first effort to restore fiscal discipline since 1997," Mr. Pence said.
Rep. Jack Kingston, Georgia Republican, said some conservatives want a House vote only if the bill can pass.
As a potential
compromise, Mr. Stevens said, he would agree to attach ANWR to the
annual defense spending bill but pledged to vote against the final
package on spending cuts if ANWR is omitted without finding its way
onto another vehicle.
"I don't see
how they can do it," Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, New York Republican, said
of the ANWR impasse. Mr. Boehlert is among the more liberal House
Republicans opposing ANWR and said his group has concerns beyond ANWR.
The
House-passed bill would trim about $50 billion from entitlement
programs, while the Senate-passed bill would trim about $35 billion.
The two chambers tentatively have aimed for a $45 billion compromise.
Several
religious leaders and protesters, led by Jim Wallis, founder of the
progressive evangelical Sojourners, were arrested yesterday after
blocking a House building. The protesters say the budget cuts take
money from the poor to finance tax cuts for the rich.
Both chambers
also have passed bills to extend several tax cuts, but chances of
approving a final version this year appear to be dwindling.
The biggest
difference is that the House bill would extend a lower tax rate for
capital gains and dividends income, while the Senate bill would prevent
millions of middle-class Americans from having to pay the alternative
minimum tax.
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