House OKs cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, student loans

The bill passed by a vote of 216-214, largely along party lines. Republicans hailed the five-year, $39 billion budget-cutting bill as an important first step to restoring discipline on spending. Democrats attacked the measure as an assault on college students and Medicaid patients and said powerful Washington lobbyists had too much influence on it.

President Bush said he looked forward to signing the bill into law.

"The House today passed a significant spending reduction package that will curb the growth of entitlement spending for the first time in years and help us stay on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009," Bush said.
[...]