House Rejects Defense Spending Cuts

Fiscal hawks lost a round Tuesday night. The House rejected four amendments that would have cut several hundred millions of dollars in Defense Department spending for the rest of fiscal 2011, which ends Sept. 30, The Hill reports.

Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., was disappointed with the defeat of his amendment that would have taken just $19 million from several Pentagon advisory boards. He noted that it was Defense Secretary Robert Gates who recommended the reduction.

"If we can't do this, where can we do it?" Flake asked during debate of his amendment. House members answered by defeating his proposal 223-207. More than half of Republicans and nearly half of the Democrats in the House voted against the idea.