House accepts two more cost-cutting amendments to 2011 funding bill

Members of the House on Wednesday evening voted on four additional budget-cutting amendments to the fiscal 2011 spending bill, and accepted two.

In a 239-185 vote, the House approved an amendment that would cut $8 million for the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Registry. Sponsor Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) said this program purports to collect data on greenhouse gas emissions, but said data collected is likely to be used to write regulations later that hurt companies.

The House also narrowly approved an amendment from Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) that would cut $10 million that would otherwise be used to build a sewer system in Tijuana, Mexico. That amendment passed by a vote of 228-203.

Members rejected an amendment from Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) that would have cut $35 million in funds that various Interior Department offices use to purchase land. More than 30 Republican joined nearly all Democrats in opposing this amendment, and it failed in a close 213-216 vote.

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) proposed a $64 million cut to the EPA's "Science to Achieve Results" program, but this too was rejected in a 199-230 vote.

The House also considered a fifth amendment from Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) that would have added $50 million to a North American wetlands conservation fund and would have paid for this by taking $50 million away from a program aimed at curbing diesel emissions, which drew opposition. That amendment failed in a 73-352 vote.

The House was expected to work late into Wednesday night.