House GOP chairman outlines sweeping spending cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) — A key House lawmaker today proposed a 10 percent cut to a food program for pregnant women and their children and eliminating subsidies for public broadcasting as part of a GOP package to reduce spending at domestic agencies to levels in place before President Barack Obama took office.

Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., also laid out a sweeping $1.8 billion, or 17 percent, cut to the Environmental Protection Agency, and eliminating a program that helps local police departments hire new officers.

Rogers outlined the cuts in a closed-door meeting with his Republicans colleagues, many of whom were elected with tea party support and are itching to cut even deeper.

The package of cuts totals $43 billion taken from domestic agency and foreign aid budgets when compared with levels enacted for 2010.

Once increases for the Pentagon are accounted for, those savings are $35 billion. They are smaller than the $100 billion promised in last year's campaign since the budget year is already almost five months under way.