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Spending cut bill approved by House, moves to Senate for reconciliation; Thank Rep. Bob Ney for his "no" vote against cuts to Ohio's most vulnerable citizens

Nov. 21, 2005 - The House of Representatives passed their $49.5 billion spending cut bill (H.R. 4241) early Friday morning by the narrowest of margins. Nervous Republican leaders were able to get the needed votes only after serious arm-twisting and last minute deals.

Nevertheless, 14 Republicans still broke ranks with their leadership on the 217-215 vote while no Democrat voted for the package of cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and student loans to pay for a series of new tax cuts for the wealthy also moving through Congress.

Votes on a conference agreement could occur as early as the week of December 5.

The 14 Republicans voting right were: Jim Gerlach (PA), Nancy Johnson (CT), Tim Johnson (IL), Walter Jones (NC), Jim Leach (IA), John McHugh (NY), Bob Ney (OH), Ron Paul (TX), Jim Ramstad (MN), Chris Shays (CT), Robert Simmons (CT), Chris Smith (NJ), John Sweeney (NY) and Heather Wilson (NM).

Please call and thank Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) and encourage him to oppose any bill that comes out of the conference committee. Dial the Capitol Switchboard at 1-800-426-8073 and ask to be connected to Ney's office.

House GOP leaders agreed to make slight modifications to the food stamps cuts and other provisions late Thursday. A number of other moderates also came on board after extracting promises that their concerns would be addressed at a later date.

• One change made to the bill would allow people with incomes up to 150 percent of the poverty level who are receiving non-cash aid under the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program to continue to be eligible for food stamps.

• Another would modestly increase Medicaid transformation grants to fast-growing states.

• Leaders also had agreed to slightly softened cuts in the budget savings bill to Medicaid and food stamps. The biggest changes would make it easier for seniors to shelter assets and still be entitled to Medicaid coverage for nursing home care.

• The bill as revised would maintain the $3 co-payment required of Medicaid recipients for most medical services, rather than increasing it to $5.

The bill now moves to a conference committee with the Senate, which passed a far different $35 billion spending cut plan that contains fewer cuts and also making changes to the Medicare program, not in the House bill.

Senate leaders and the White House have said they will insist on including in the final bill the contentious issue of opening the Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling, which is in the Senate bill but not the House bill. A number of moderate House Republicans say it will doom the bill if ANWR drilling is restored.

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Take Action Now - Join the online march against the latest budget cuts that will hurt our most vulnerable and the large tax breaks for the wealthy

Download Now - AFSCME White Paper on the budget cuts released by the Emergency Campaign for America's Priorities

House Republican leadership suffers stunning defeat; Thanks to all members who made calls asking Regula to reconsider deep cuts