Congress Details Cuts in 2011 Budget Deal as Votes Nears

[Better Believe It]

Congress Details Cuts in 2011 Budget Deal as Votes Nears
By SIOBHAN HUGHES
April 12, 2011


WASHINGTON—A deal to keep the U.S. government funded for the remainder of fiscal 2011 contains large budget cuts for high-speed rail projects and the Environmental Protection Agency and leaves almost no program immune from the largest spending reductions in the country's history.

The main exception was the Defense Department, which wound up with a $5 billion increase from previous levels, leaving it with $513 billion. But defense contractors will still suffer. Some $354 million in funding for an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was cut. That engine was being developed in an community near the congressional distroct of House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio). Another $325 million was cut for production of and modifications to Boeing Co.'s C-17 military transport plane.

The EPA budget will be cut by $1.6 billion. Funding for high-speed rail projects will be reduced by $2.9 billion, wiping out funding for all such new projects and taking back money that remained unspent.

Still, the budget deal eliminates funding for a White House position advising President Barack Obama on climate change, reflecting Republican displeasure for the administration's efforts to regulate greenhouse gases. The deal also cuts $438 million from a Energy Department's energy-efficiency and renewable-energy program.

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