HOUSE EMBRACES KASICH BUDGET

House Republicans easilypassed their historic legislation to balance the federal budgetin a well-scripted, near-party-line vote of 238-193. The bill, which the GOP claims would lead to the first budget surplus since 1969, aims to bring to an end decades of federal deficits by wrenching an unprecedented $1.4 trillion in savings from budgets over the next seven years.Medicare and Medicaid would take the biggest hitsand hundreds of other federal programs would vanish. But majority House members -- unlike senators, who today began debating their $961 billion measure -- would try toease the painwith $350 billion in tax breaks for families, corporations and investors. Said the plan's chief architect,House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich(R-Ohio): "The 21st century is about the power of the individual, not the power of bureaucracy or the power of red tape."