WASHINGTON — Republicans controlling the House announced plans Wednesday to cut $30 billion from the day-to-day budgets of Cabinet agencies, doubling down on cuts to domestic programs just weeks after a split-the-differences bargain with President Barack Obama.
The moves by the powerful lawmakers atop the House Appropriations Committee are the first concrete steps to try to implement a tight-fisted 2012 budget plan approved by Republicans last month. It would build on $38 billion in savings enacted in a hard-fought agreement with Obama over the current year’s budget.
Obama and his Democratic allies controlling the Senate are sure to battle hard against cuts of this size, even though Obama told Senate Democrats on Wednesday not to adopt unyielding positions in their budget talks with Republicans.
Obama, meeting with senators at the White House, even cautioned that painful cuts are in store to achieve a bipartisan agreement on deficit reduction, according to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
Obama also said Wednesday that lawmakers may have to rely on automatic spending cuts and tax increases to reach a deal on deficit reduction.
Under the House Appropriations Committee plan, the cuts to domestic programs such as education, housing subsidies and infrastructure projects will feel much more severe because the Pentagon — which accounts for more than half of the budget that passes through the panel each year — would receive a $17 billion, 3 percent boost. So domestic agencies and foreign aid accounts would have to absorb $47 billion in cuts, averaging about 9 percent.
“Brutal, brutal,” said Rep. Norm Dicks of Washington, the panel’s top Democrat, who warned of cuts to food inspection, Pell Grants for low-income students, community development grants, food aid to low-income pregnant women and their children, and grants to community action agencies. “Those are all things that are going to hurt the lowest-income people in this country.”
“There are going to be some cuts to agencies that people aren’t used to because they’ve seen double-digit increases,” said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.
