WP: GOP Budget Cuts Face Varied Opposition (D: "day of reckoning coming")

[Rose Siding]

A full-court press by liberal activists, coupled with conflicting regional interests, is threatening to sink a far-reaching Republican budget bill in the House that was designed to slice $54 billion in federal spending over the next five years.

House GOP leaders said yesterday that they will push for a vote on the measure Thursday, and that they are prepared to do what it takes to put them over the top. That may mean temporarily ditching a provision opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling or throwing aside an offshore oil drilling provision to win balking Florida Republicans.

But for now, Republicans concede they are well short of the votes needed to pass a bill that would require longer work hours to qualify for welfare, allow states to impose new costs on Medicaid beneficiaries, cut assistance for child support enforcement, trim student loan spending, cut back agriculture supports, and curb eligibility for food stamps.
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Such misgivings are being exploited by liberal activists, who have organized protests in House members' home districts, phone campaigns and e-mail blitzes. The same umbrella organization of liberal groups and trade unions that helped stymie President Bush's Social Security proposals has turned its attention to the budget plan.
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"This is going to test whether moderate Republicans are really moderate," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "There are a ton of people who will have a day of reckoning coming."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/07/AR2005110701545.html