Boehner Says Budget Will Pass Despite G.O.P. Dissent

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WASHINGTON — As the House readied for a vote Thursday on the budget compromise struck last week, Speaker John A. Boehner predicted the measure would pass with a bipartisan majority, despite what may be substantial defections by conservative members of his caucus.

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Mr. Boehner also pushed back against criticism that the agreement he struck with President Obama and Senate Democrats was flawed and relied too heavily on budget gimmicks to achieve its roughly $38 billion in cuts.

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As the House vote approached, the chief political question for Mr. Boehner was exactly how many members of the Republican majority would end up rejecting the compromise he negotiated.

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Republican leaders ... said they fully expected the measure to win House approval on Thursday, though it seemed increasingly likely that Democratic votes would be required to put it over the top — an outcome the leadership had hoped to avoid because party fissures could weaken Mr. Boehner in coming budget negotiations.

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According to a Congressional Budget Office comparison, the bill would produce only $350 million in tangible savings this year, partly because cuts in domestic programs were offset by an increase of about $5 billion for Pentagon programs.

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Several Democrats said they intended to vote for the proposal. Representative Robert E. Andrews, Democrat of New Jersey, said he believed the final deal cut by Mr. Boehner, Mr. Obama and Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, represented sensible cuts that protected crucial education programs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/us/politics/15congress.html?hp

Edited April 14, 2011 by \

[Vi-Jay 218]

As soon as I read, "the house readied"

I felt a need to throw up!