House
ORG
House
House conservatives plan this week to propose an austere alternative spending plan that would pare more than $650 billion over five years, balance the budget and drastically shrink three cabinet agencies. But House conservative leaders would go far beyond the president's own budget proposal, illustrating the difficulty the White House and the Republican leadership have had in persuading the caucus to speak with one voice on the matter. The budget debate could be the first big challenge for Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, who won his position last month with help from House conservatives who will now be looking to him to help hold down spending. With Congress heading into a politically perilous budget season, influential House conservatives for planning this week to propose an austere alternative spending plan that would pare more than $650 billion over five years, balance the budget and drastically contract three cabinet agencies. But House conservative leaders would go far beyond the president's own budget proposal, illustrating the difficulty the White House and the Republican leadership have had in persuading the caucus to speak with one voice on the matter.