GOP Tussles Over Size of Budget Cut

The news that House Republicans will downsize their promised $100 billion budget cut prompted fresh explanations and reactions this morning from within the GOP, the National Journal reports . The incoming House Budget Committee Chairman said the adjustment is unavoidable because half the current budget is already spent, while a senator-elect countered that the party has to stick to its original target.

"We're not reneging on it," the new budget chairman, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, said of the promise to cut the federal budget. Ryan said on NBC's "Today" this morning that a $100 billion cut in this fiscal year is a problem because "half the spending cats are already out of the bag, and that is why that [$100 billion] number has become compromised."

The New York Times reported that House Republicans could cut the $100 billion target by as much as half. The revision drew criticism this morning on ABC's "Good Morning America" from Sen.-elect Rand Paul of Kentucky. Paul called the debt problem "enormous" and said "$50 billion is not enough to scratch the surface. We have to find much, much more."

Ryan is expected to have great leeway to set spending levels under a set of GOP rules to be voted on today.