Republicans in the House of Representatives on Monday will fire their first shots of the next deficit-reduction battle, advancing legislation to cut nearly $380 billion largely from social programs while protecting defense spending.
The cuts to food stamps, child tax credits and Medicaid healthcare for the poor, among others, are certain to stall in the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate.
But they stake out Republicans' negotiating stance on replacing $1.2 trillion in automatic, across-the-board spending cuts that are due to take effect in January.
The automatic spending cuts, of which $600 billion would come from defense through 2022 - were part of last summer's eleventh-hour deal to avert an historic debt default and raise the federal borrowing cap.
The automatic cuts will launch in January 2013 in what many lawmakers call a "meat axe" approach to deficit reduction. Democrats and the Obama administration agree with Republicans on the need avoid this in favor of more thoughtful measures. But they differ on how to do it.
Under the Republican plan, defense spending would actually be $8 billion higher than levels agreed last August, rising to $554 billion in 2013.
Ryan prescribed the plan to divert military spending cuts to domestic spending in his controversial budget plan passed by the House in March.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/07/us-usa-budget-cuts-idUSBRE84604820120507
