Budget-cut Bill passed by House as Senate approves tax-cut measure

Budget-cut Bill passed by House as Senate approves tax-cut measure

Friday afternoon brought a much sought after victory for the Republicans when the House of Representatives passed the budget-cut bill by a thin margin. In another development, the Senate passed a $60 billion tax-cut bill.

The $50 billion spending-cut package was passed by a vote of 217-215 following a weeklong deadlock between the Republicans and the Democrats. The bill seeks to slash federal expenditure on social programs like Medicaid, food stamps and student loan subsidies over the next five years in order to make up for the deficit caused by the war and the hurricane.

The Republicans portray the bill as an indispensable move to control government spending. “What we're trying to do is save the future generations from mountains upon mountains upon mountains of debt,” said Patrick T. McHenry, a Republican from North Carolina. The move was strongly criticized by the democrats.

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“This is the cruelest lie of all: That the only way you can help people who have lost everything is by hurting somebody else,” said Rep. Gene Taylor, a Mississippi Democrat. The democrats have condemned the republicans for cutting back on social programs at a time when they are endorsing a tax-cut bill that will benefit the rich.

“If the issue was in fact [about] cutting deficits, one could argue persuasively that we need to balance the budget. But it's not. It's about cutting spending here, and then cutting taxes.” said Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House.

The republicans however were firm on their stance. “We've set ourselves on a course to reform the way the federal government does business,” said Roy Blunt, acting majority leader in the House.

The tax-cut bill was passed by the senate later in the night with a vote of 64 to 33 after weeks of bickering.