Keeping their mid-term campaign promise would require deep cuts in discretionary spending. Republicans have refused to specify major targets

By By Patrick O'Connor

Business Week 

updated 10/4/2010 8:00:00 PM ET

[Bloomberg] -- U.S. House Republicans' pledge to cut $100 billion from the federal budget next year would slash spending for education, cancer research and aid to local police and firefighters.

Keeping the midterm-campaign promise would require a Republican-led Congress to cut 21 percent of the $477 billion lawmakers have earmarked for domestic discretionary spending.

"That's where you get the savings," said Representative Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican who would likely be chairman of the Budget Committee if his party regained its majority in the Nov. 2 elections.

A cut of that magnitude would necessitate major reductions in spending likely to spur protests across many fronts, and Republican leaders have refused to specify any major targets before Election Day. Most of the proposals Republicans have offered so far provide minimal savings, like shaving $2 billion from the budget by capping federal salaries next year.

Still, Republicans argue that spending cuts trump tax increases as the best way to start balancing the budget in the wake of the worst recession since the Great Depression.

"To balance the budget, Congress has to get its arms around the spending here in Washington, and we have to have a healthy economy that gets Americans working again," House Republican Leader John Boehner told an audience yesterday at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based group that favors smaller government. "You can't have a healthy economy if you raise taxes on those that you expect to reinvest in the economy and hire more people."

Social Services

Democrats warn that the promised cuts would lead to dramatic reductions in social services across the board.

"This would have significant real-world consequences," said Representative Rob Andrews, a New Jersey Democrat on the Budget Committee. "I don't see any way there isn't a hit on college students," he said. "I don't see any way there isn't some hit on local police and fire."

Republicans have made their task even harder by taking military spending off the table along with any programs for seniors or veterans. Under the Republican plan, the budget resolution would set spending at 2008 levels, lawmakers said. While cutting the $100 billion needed to meet that pledge would force deep cuts, they have steered away from a specific plan for it.

"I'm a budgeteer," Ryan said. "I just bring down the cap."

Potential Firing Range

The Republican pledge to trim $100 billion from discretionary spending puts many programs, such as public education and cancer research, on a potential firing range: President Barack Obama has requested $73.4 billion for the Department of Education next year. That request includes $23 billion for Pell Grants to help low-income students afford college, a 32 percent increase from this year.