House GOP Eyes Fast-Tracking $500 Billion in Federal Budget Cuts

  • Spending on Medicaid and food stamps could be reduced
  • Budget instructions would bypass threat of filibuster
Photographer: Aaron P. Bernstein/Bloomberg
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House Republicans are considering an ambitious target of about $500 billion in cuts to so-called mandatory spending in their fiscal 2018 budget resolution, according to two people familiar with the plan.

The House Budget Committee is considering instructing Congress to pursue the cuts to a rarely-touched slice of the budget that totaled $2.4 trillion in 2016 and which includes spending on safety-net programs like Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment benefits and food stamps.