House votes for deficit cutting bill

WASHINGTON - The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives passed legislation to cut federal spending by $6 trillion and require congressional approval of a constitutional balanced budget amendment in exchange for raising the federal debt ceiling and averting a threatened government default.

The 234-190 vote on Tuesday night marked the power of deeply conservative first-term Republicans, and stood in contrast to stirrings at the White House and in the Senate on a renewed effort at bipartisanship to solve the looming debt crisis.

The House bill faces almost certain defeat in the Democrat-controlled Senate and President Barack Obama has vowed to veto it should it ever reach his desk.