House Budget approves bill turning off sequester

The House Budget Committee late Monday approved a bill turning off most of the $109 billion across-the-board automatic spending cut slated to take place Jan. 2, by a 21 to 13 vote.

The bill removes $78 billion in discretionary cuts that had been triggered by the failure of last year's debt supercommittee. To make up the rest, it lowers the appropriations spending cap for next year by $19 billion and keeps in place about $12 billion in automatic cuts to mandatory spending, including Medicare spending.

Earlier in the day, the Budget committee had reported out a bill by a vote of 21 to 9 that would cut spending by $261 billion over ten years. That bill, offered as a replacement to the automatic spending sequester, was called for in the House-passed budget authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

The replacement bill contains recommendations from six other House committees. These provisions were not altered by House Budget in any way.

The cuts come largely from federal worker benefits, food stamps, Medicaid, Social Security block grants, and cuts to President Obama's signature health and financial reform initiatives.

Defense spending, which was to see half of the automatic cuts, is spared from reductions in the bill. Democrats offered motions and amendments, all of which were defeated, proposing to replace cuts to social programs with tax increases on oil companies and companies that send jobs overseas.

The full House is expected to vote on the two GOP bills this week. They face no chance of approval in the Democratic controlled Senate but the spending cut ideas will likely figure in lame-duck negotiations when Congress will be rushing to try to stop the Jan. 2 cuts.