WASHINGTON — Moving on two fronts, the Republican-controlled House on Thursday voted to keep the government running for the next six months while pushing through a Tea Party-flavored budget for next year that would shrink the government by another $4.6 trillion over the next decade.
The spending authorization on its way to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature leaves in place $85 billion in spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies. The House passed the bipartisan 2013 measure by a sweeping 318-109 vote.
The nonbinding GOP budget plan for 2014 and beyond calls for a balanced budget in 10 years and sharp cuts in safety-net programs for the poor and other domestic programs.
The plan, offered by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., passed the House on a mostly party-line 221-207 vote, with 10 Republicans joining Democrats against it.
The Senate soundly rejected Ryan’s plan later Thursday. Five Republicans joined every Democrat present to kill the measure, which failed on a 40-59 vote.
Meanwhile, the Democrat-controlled Senate debated for a second day its first budget since the 2009 plan that helped Obama pass his health-care law. A vote on the Senate measure is expected late Friday or early Saturday.
