"We don't want to accept these extremely high levels of spending while we negotiate how to continue funding the government."  

Leaders of both parties have been playing budgetary brinksmanship over bills to keep the government up and running. 

In the early hours Saturday, newly empowered Republicans voted to cut about $61 billion in government spending.

But Democrats in Congress and President Barack Obama's administration, while also vowing cuts, immediately criticized the plan as dangerous in a slow economy. 

They say the Republican budget cannot pass through the Democrat-controlled Senate, leaving open the possibility that the government could run out of cash. 

"There are estimates that about 800,000 Americans would lose their jobs if you do this in a reckless manner," Democrat Chris Van Hollen said of deep cuts in the midst of the country's slow economic recovery. 

"We think that's the wrong approach to this. We think we need to get the economy fully in gear, put together a plan now for cuts and frankly we need to look at the revenue piece." 

The government is currently funded through a stopgap spending measure expiring March 4, a result of congressional disagreement last year. A shutdown could delay Social Security checks, tax refunds and payments for veterans, Democrats claim. 

A similar standoff in 1995 forced a government shutdown widely viewed as having backfired on the Republicans who then controlled Congress. 

Republican Senator Tom Coburn said on Fox News Sunday, however, that the threat of a shutdown was slim.

"You know, it's good for political rhetoric to talk about a government shutdown. But I don't know anybody that wants that to happen," he said, calling for "cooler heads."

For her part, Democrat Claire McCaskill said she hoped lawmakers would behave "like adults" and work out a solution. 

"The bottom line is we all want cuts," she said. "We can find a compromise. We can make serious and significant cuts in this government with some wasteful programs without going out at the heart of education funding, without cutting border security. We can do that." 

The House of Representatives and Senate are in recess this week, giving lawmakers a narrow window to reach a compromise and making it increasingly likely that Congress will have to adopt a short-term spending bill. 

Speaker of the House John Boehner has warned, however, that he will not accept any short-term measure that does not markedly reduce spending. 

Senate Democrats could approve short-term funding to keep the government running and essentially dare Boehner to reject it. 

Obama this week threatened to veto the bill if it undermines national security or economic recovery. 

But efforts to fashion a compromise have also been under way. The two chairmen of the powerful House and Senate appropriations committees, Republican Harold Rogers and Democrat Daniel Inouye, have been in conversations as the process has evolved, media reports said.

US lawmakers vote to cut $61 bn in govt spending

The 235-189 partisan-line vote came after a dramatic all-night session rife with political posturing and heated debate. The measure is largely expected to be blocked in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where many of the approved cuts are opposed.

The cuts included measures to deny funds for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating industries that are emitting greenhouse gases and limit the government's role in education.

One of the approved amendments would even bar salaries for government workers implementing the law.

"The quickest way to achieve savings, if you have to do it very fast, is cutting off paychecks," said Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a think tank that advocates fiscal responsibility. "It's the easiest way to do it."

Democrats, who unanimously voted against the budget blueprint, were dismayed.

"Defunding health care reform will leave behind thousands I represent in Wisconsin," said Democratic Representative Tammy Baldwin.

One of the approved amendments called for halting funding for Planned Parenthood, a family planning organization.

Since opening the debate on Tuesday, the House has also voted to scrap funds for a second engine for the F-35 fighter aircraft, to restore money for police officers and firefighters, and to eliminate funding for the US Institute of Peace as well as the East-West Center -- which Congress envisioned as a bridge to Asia.

But not all of the Republican proposals saw the light of day. The House defeated a Republican proposal to withhold dues to the United Nations pushed by Representative Paul Broun, who had said Washington's yearly contribution was like throwing money down "rat holes."

The United States is the biggest contributor to the United Nations, paying more than $2.5 billion to the UN peacekeeping and regular budgets last year.

They have also rejected an amendment to cut $400 million from a fund to build up war-torn Afghanistan's infrastructure, and another to eliminate the $1.5 billion Iraq Security Forces Fund.

And they defeated a push to withhold money critical to settling a cotton subsidy feud with Brazil in a 246-183 ballot.

A current stopgap spending measure expires on March 4, and increasingly nasty verbal sparring and finger-pointing in the US Congress could lead to a failure to adopt a replacement, triggering a government shutdown.

The House and Senate are in recess next week, giving lawmakers a narrow window to agree on a compromise measure and making it increasingly likely that the Congress will have to adopt a short-term spending bill.

But Republican House Speaker John Boehner warned Thursday that he would not accept any measure that did not markedly reduce spending -- a step that, if rejected by the Senate, would trigger a government shutdown.

"When we say we're going to cut spending -- Read my lips: We're going to cut spending," he told reporters.

Republicans have vowed to largely spare the Pentagon, and keep aid to Israel and Egypt intact, but said Washington needs to tighten its belt to deflate its yearly budget deficit and reduce its swollen national debt.

The projected budget deficit is set to hit 1.6 trillion dollars while the national debt is currently 14 trillion dollars.

Democrats have broadly agreed on the need for austerity, but denounced an array of foreign aid cuts in the bill, warning that paring back the State Department's funds could notably hurt its efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.