US House passes bill to replace Pentagon sequester

US House of Representatives on Thursday voted to override deep cuts to Defense budget mandated by a debt reduction deal and replace them with spending reductions to food stamps and other mandatory social programs, a move strongly opposed by the White House, and was recommended for veto should it reach the president's desk.

The House approved the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act in a party-line vote of 218-199. The bill reduces the deficit by 243 billion dollars in 10 years, and would serve as a Republican marker for post-election budget talks with the White House. It overrides the sequester that's going into effect next year, a 600- billion-dollar cut on defense programs after a bipartisan panel failed to find ways to slash 1.2 trillion dollars of spending over the next decade.

"We believe the purpose of the sequester was to replace the fact that Congress isn't governing," said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan during the opening debate on the bill. "That's why we're doing this."

The GOP bill turns off some cuts to the Pentagon, but keeps in place cuts to social programs such as Medicare, and add more cuts to the social programs.

The bill is doomed for failure once it leaves the House, as the Democratic controlled Senate has said it would not consider it at all, and the White House has also issued a veto threat.