As the House began work Wednesday on the first spending bill for next year, there was lots of talk on the floor about the need for big budget cuts, but no real groundswell to further slash a budget measure for homeland defense. At least not yet.
The debate on Wednesday, which stretched until 12:30am, was much like what happened earlier this year when the House considered over $60 billion in cuts for this year - despite a lot of calls for big spending reductions, the House did not get out the budget chainsaw.
One repeat from that debate back in February was when the subject of grants for first responders came up on the House floor, as lawmakers again rejected deep cuts in money for local police and fire units.
This bill envisioned an almost 60% cut in first responder grants, but critics moved to add back two-thirds of that money, by shifting several hundred million dollars out of management accounts at the Homeland Security Department and moving that into the police and fire grants.
The vote was 333-87 to approve that change, again demonstrating the popularity - in both parties - of the police and fire grants, as Republicans went for the amendment by 147-87.
The House though did reject an amendment to add back over $300 million in Urban Area Security grants, holding the line in a different area, as lawmakers rejected various amendments to spend more - but at the same time - they weren't approving major new cuts.
Other plans approved yesterday included $600,000 cut from the office of the Homeland Security Secretary, which Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) wants to be funneled directly into deficit reduction.
But, when the overall deficit is moving closer to $1.5 trillion this year, just chopping 600 grand isn't going to balance the budget any tim soon.
Today will bring a vote on a 10% across the board cut in the homeland defense measure, which is certain to fall far short of the votes needed for approval.
Debate could start later today as well on the next budget bill, which may prove even more controversial, because of cuts included in school lunch programs and food aid for low income Americans.
Right now, House Republicans are on line to cut $30 billion in spending next year; the cut will actually be closer to $47 billion, but their budget plans add on $17 billion in defense spending for next year.
