House approves rule setting up budget resolution vote on Tuesday

By a 240-168 vote, the House just approved H.Res 43, the rule for a Republican budget resolution that would set up cuts to discretionary non-security spending for the rest of FY 2011. The budget resolution, H.Res. 38, will be voted on tomorrow after a one-hour debate.

The rule was approved after a contentious hour-long debate in which Democrats charged that Republicans are not being transparent, since the underlying resolution does not call for a specific budget number. Still, the rule attracted the support of about eight Democrats. See our post below for debate details.

The rule survived a procedural vote of 238-174, just before the final vote. Democrats urged House members to reject the rule in the procedural vote in order to amend it to ensure that FBI counterterrorism programs are not cut.

The House is now moving to special order speeches for the remainder of the evening.