Republican budget bill barely passes

WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans, by the narrowest margin Wednesday, pushed through a major budget measure that would trim federal spending by nearly $40 billion over five years.

Vice President Dick Cheney took his seat as president of the Senate just past 10:30 a.m. to cast the tie-breaking vote on a hard-fought budget bill that would allow states to impose new fees on Medicaid recipients, cut federal child-support enforcement funds, impose new work requirements on state welfare programs and squeeze student lenders – all for the purpose of slowing the growth of federal entitlement programs.

The vote was 51 to 50, with five Republicans and one independent joining 44 Democrats in opposing the measure.

Final victory was denied, however, when Democrats used a parliamentary objection to strike three small provisions from the 774-page measure, forcing it back to the House for a new vote, which may not occur until early next year. That denied President Bush a quick White House signing ceremony and guaranteed more division over the measure, but allowed GOP leaders to claim a victory on Capitol Hill in the effort to reduce the deficit.

Bush and Republican leaders tried to make the best of the situation, hailing the passage of the budget bill as a realization of one of the GOP’s top priorities. It was the first time since 1997 that Congress has tackled the growth of entitlement programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, which are governed by set funding formulas, not annual spending bills. The president has made changes to such programs a priority in his effort to reduce the federal deficit.

But House Republicans lamented Democratic tactics that will keep the measure from being enacted immediately.

The House had narrowly passed the bill, 212 to 206, in a predawn vote on Monday, and now, with a new vote in the House coming, opponents of the budget bill – from organized labor to the powerful seniors lobby AARP – began gearing up for another fight.