Panel Votes To Cut Programs, Aid Pentagon

A quarrelsome House committee voted Friday to slash Clinton administration initiatives in an effort to find money to help the Pentagon pay its bills.

Over objections by outnumbered Democrats, the House Appropriations Committee agreed to chop aid to Russia, job training for youths, funds used to remove toxics from military bases and other programs. It voted to use the money to provide the military with $3.2 billion for such operations as the Persian Gulf and Haiti, for a pay raise approved last year and for training.

The committee’s action was the first step in what the GOP has promised will be a long march this year toward slicing hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending.