WASHINGTON — The House wildly swung its budget ax yesterday, hacking current spending levels for the arts, schools and parks, as Republican leaders dared President Obama to try to block their deep spending cuts and force a government shutdown next month.
The new cuts added about $600 million to the original GOP bill, which slashed 2011 spending by $61 billion.
The budget-slashing only intensified a brewing showdown between the Republican-controlled House and the White House and Democratic-run Senate, which want to kill the GOP bill.
But House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he wouldn’t allow a vote on even a short-term spending bill unless it, too, included deep cuts.
“When we say we’re going to cut spending, read my lips, we’re going to cut spending,” Boehner said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called Boehner’s hard-line stance “unproductive.” He said he hoped that “cooler heads will prevail” and that Republicans would back down.