Republicans controlling the House are targeting food stamps, federal employee pensions, tax breaks for illegal immigrants and subsidies under President Barack Obama's health care law in a multifaceted drive to swap cuts to domestic programs for big Pentagon cuts scheduled next year.

The House took up a stringent GOP budget plan Wednesday that blends big cuts to safety-net programs for the poor with a plan to dramatically overhaul Medicare, kicking off a politically-charged, election-year debate over trillion-dollar deficits and what to do about them.

The measure leaves Social Security alone, but it contains a policy calling for raising the retirement age and reducing annual cost-of-living increases.

Republicans and Democrats on a key House panel squared off Wednesday over a controversial GOP budget plan to sharply cut federal health care spending and safety-net programs like food stamps as the chief means to wrestle trillion-dollar-plus deficits under control.

Mixing deep cuts to safety-net programs for the poor with politically risky cost curbs for Medicare, Republicans controlling the House unveiled an election-year budget blueprint Tuesday that paints clear campaign differences with President Barack Obama.

Conservative House Republicans on Tuesday set up what appears to be a potential re-run of last year's turbulent domestic policy fight with President Barack Obama, putting forward an election-year budget manifesto that would blend steep social program cuts with reduced tax rates.

It might be dismissed as an election year gimmick by the big shots who run Capitol Hill, but frustration over Congress' failure to pass a budget since 2009 has given surprising momentum to a bill that would cut off lawmakers' pay if they can't or won't pass a...

Maine Republican Olympia Snowe says the Senate spends too much time in political battle and not enough on solving problems, and more than a few of her colleagues agree.