GOP forges ahead with budget cuts

The Hill reports:

Republicans and Democrats clashed Monday on what is expected to be a chief battleground of the 2012 election — the fiscal plans of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and House Republicans.

A day after voters in France and Greece toppled governments in a European backlash against austerity measures, Republicans moved forward with legislation to replace $78 billion in automatic spending cuts to defense and discretionary domestic spending with a much larger $261 billion cut focused only on domestic spending.