The House on Thursday approved a resolution that cuts committee expenses in the 112th Congress compared to the 111th.

Most cuts were on the order of 5 percent, although the Judiciary Committee received the 10 percent, $2 million cut in its budget. The House also eliminated the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming entirely — this committee had a $4.2 million budget in the last Congress.

Freshman Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) said he believes Thursday's resolution calling for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, and a separate bill aimed at blocking federal funds to NPR, were both unconstitutional, which is why he voted "present" on both bills.

Indiana Rep. Dan Burton (R) listed movie recommendations, used his cellphone and considered doing impersonations during a House floor speech Thursday evening as he stalled to keep the chamber in session while two colleagues ran late.

Burton's speech on energy independence wrapped up and he was set to hand off to Rep. Louie Gohmert, but the Texas Republican was nowhere to be seen.

"The people in the cloak room came out and said, 'you need to keep talking,'" Burton told reporters after his 10 minutes of awkwardness wrapped up. "I said, 'well, I've finished my special order.' They said but Louie Gohmert's coming over, he wants to talk." Burton wondered why Gohmert was late.

"They said, 'well, we don't know [why he's late]. But he said to keep talking so he can get here," the veteran lawmaker said. "I just decided to wing it for a little bit and be a little interesting."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) seized an opportunity Thursday night to criticize a House vote earlier in the day to defund National Public Radio.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who had come to the floor to congratulate athletes currently competing in the Iditarod Dog Race in Alaska, prompted the majority leader to speak on the topic. 

The House adjourned shortly before 6 p.m. on Thursday, with the expectation of convening after next week's recess.

The Senate, which was still in session as of 6 p.m., is expected to approve an adjournment resolution the House approved earlier in the week. That resolution would keep the Senate out until March 28 at noon, and the House out until March 29 at 2 p.m.

Before the House adjourned, Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) warned that the U.S. needs to seek out its own energy supplies in the wake of rising oil and gas prices. And freshman Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.) scolded the Senate for failing to work out a spending bill for FY 2011 that it can pass.

"It's time for the Senate to act," he said.

The House and Senate each approved a three-week spending resolution that will fund the government through April 8, and President Obama is expected to sign that legislation, H.J.Res. 48, sometime before Friday.

Just minutes after the House rejected his resolution calling for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said President Bush and his key cabinet members should be held accountable for waging an unjustified war in Iraq.

"I'm going to say something on this floor that seldom gets discussed here, and that is that I sincerely believe that President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rumsfeld and others should be held accountable under international law for waging a war against people who had no quarrel with the United States of America at all," Kucinich said. "There has to be international laws that have to be followed by U.S. officials, and in fact there are."

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) on Thursday explained his vote against the just-passed three-week budget resolution by saying that Democrats had "stalled long enough." 

"Congress is long past due to enact a budget for the remainder of the fiscal year,” Inhofe in a statement released after the vote. “While I support the spending cuts in the short-term continuing resolution, I cannot continue to vote for anything less than a long-term funding plan."

Kucinich-sponsored amendment fails 93-321 but garnered more support than a similar measure in 2010.

The House on Thursday voted to cut federal funding for National Public Radio after two hours of debate in which Democrats accused Republicans of following through on a political grudge against NPR, and Republicans insisted that Congress needs to cut spending by all means possible.

The House approved the bill, H.R. 1076, by a 228-192 vote. Every voting Democrat voted against it, and seven Republicans joined them: Reps. Sean Duffy (Wis.), Chris Gibson (NY), Richard Hanna (NY), Steve LaTourette (Ohio), Dave Reichert (Wash), Patrick Tiberi (Ohio), and Rob Woodall (Ga.).