Republicans in House Pass $50 Billion in Budget Cuts

Gregg said he is committed to raising the savings target from the Senate's $35 billion level toward the House's $50 billion mark. But if negotiators shy away from a showdown with the White House over the Medicare fund, some of that savings will have to be found elsewhere. Moderate Republicans in the Senate remain adamant that they are not about to accept the House's cuts to programs for the poor.

"If I'm presented that, I vote no," said Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), who had precipitated another budget fight this spring over proposed Medicaid cuts. "We'll try" to reach agreement, he said, "but they've got some pretty rough rapids to navigate."

The uncertain fate of the budget bills did not dampen the mood of a House Republican leadership that badly needed the victory. Buffeted by the indictment-induced resignation of Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) as House majority leader, GOP leaders were forced last week to pull the budget measure from consideration for lack of votes. On Thursday, they suffered a rare and embarrassing defeat when nearly two dozen Republicans joined Democrats to defeat the annual spending bill that funds health, education and labor programs.

Conservatives had threatened to force a leadership election in January if the budget vote failed, while some moderates had warned that a successful vote would splinter the party. Without DeLay to round up votes, it fell to Blunt to do much of the groundwork, and Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) had to put his popularity on the line.

Lawmakers said yesterday that Hastert has emerged as the biggest winner in the budget battle.

"These budget votes are the toughest votes we make, the toughest," said Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.). "And the fact that the leadership is fractured, that a lot more [of the responsibility] fell on the speaker, made it that much harder and take a little longer."

Moderate Republicans -- long maligned as weak and easily outmaneuvered -- say they, too, emerged as a stronger, more cohesive block. They forced their leaders to strip out the Alaska drilling provision and a provision lifting a moratorium on offshore energy exploration. They trimmed back cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and school lunch programs, and they won promises that any final agreement will include an extension of a controversial dairy farm support program.

"The moderates feel we have been heard, we have been listened to," said Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.).

In the end, said Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-Ohio), "it was better to have the message that we can govern than 'Things are falling apart.' "