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WSJCongress Details Cuts in 2011 Budget Deal as Votes Near
By SIOBHAN HUGHES
WASHINGTON—A deal to keep the U.S. government funded for the remainder of fiscal 2011 contains large budget cuts for high-speed rail projects and the Environmental Protection Agency and leaves almost no program immune from the largest spending reductions in the country's history.
The details of a plan to reduce spending by almost $39 billion from previous levels were posted early Tuesday morning, just days before the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate take up the measure. Congress must act in order to keep the government running beyond Thursday, when the latest interim spending measure expires. The fiscal year 2011 ends Sept. 30.
"My committee went line-by-line through agency budgets this weekend to negotiate and craft deep but responsible reductions in virtually all areas of government," House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R, Ky.) said in a statement. "Our bill targets wasteful and duplicative spending, makes strides to rein in out-of-control federal bureaucracies, and will help bring our nation one step closer to eliminating our job-crushing level of debt."
The main exception was the Defense Department, which wound up with a $5 billion increase from previous levels, leaving it with $513 billion. But defense contractors will still suffer. Some $354 million in funding for an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was cut. That engine was being developed in an community near the congressional distroct of House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio). Another $325 million was cut for production of and modifications to Boeing Co.'s C-17 military transport plane.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703385404576258550820756980.html?mod=e2tw
"The main exception was the Defense Department, which wound up with a $5 billion increase from previous levels..."
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