In Congress, a first salvo in war on spending

WASHINGTON - The House vote early Saturday to slash more than $60 billion from the federal budget over the next seven months shows how powerfully the grass-roots, anti-spending fervor of the November elections is driving the new Republican majority's efforts to shrink the size and scope of government. It puts the two parties on a path to a succession of showdowns over the deficit and the nation's growing debt.

The House bill would impose sharp spending reductions in nearly every area of government including domestic programs, foreign aid and even some military projects.

The vote, 235 to 189, was a victory for the large, boisterous class of fiscally conservative Republican freshmen fiercely determined to change the ways of Washington, forcing party leaders to undertake far bigger cuts than first planned.

Reaction and repercussions

With Congress on a weeklong Presidents' Day recess, lawmakers will return with just four days to agree on a temporary extension of the stopgap measure now financing the government.

The Democratic-controlled Senate has signaled that it will not consider anything approaching the scale of cuts approved by the House, setting up a standoff that each side has warned could lead to a shutdown of the federal government early next month.

Saturday's predawn vote was also the opening salvo in what is likely to be a long clash over fiscal policy on Capitol Hill, in statehouses around the country and in the 2012 presidential campaign, as Republicans repudiate the Keynesian strategies the Obama administration has relied on to navigate the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Geithner, in Paris for a Group of 20 meeting of the world's largest economies, said the administration was "confident that the Democrats and Republicans are going to come together on a program not just to reduce spending, but to reduce our long-term deficits."

The White House had threatened to veto the bill even before it was approved.

The fight ahead will focus on paying for government operations through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 and the need within the next few months to raise the federal debt ceiling. But the push by Republicans for spending cuts and new austerity is already shaking state capitals, including Madison, Wis., and Columbus, Ohio, where labor unions are protesting efforts to reduce benefits and weaken collective bargaining rights.

Legislative ultra-marathon

The House approved its spending measure after four days and nights of free-wheeling floor debate -- a veritable ultra-marathon of legislating in which hundreds of amendments were put forward. Republican leaders lost votes on some, in what they said was a testament to their commitment to allow a more open legislative process than their recent predecessors.

Immediately after the vote, the House speaker, John Boehner of Ohio, said in a statement, "This week, for the first time in many years, the People's House was allowed to work its will -- and the result was one of the largest spending cuts in American history."

Boehner added, "We will not stop here in our efforts to cut spending, not when we're broke and Washington's spending binge is making it harder to create jobs."