Doug Mataconis · · 12 comments

Remember that promise the GOP made during the election to cut $ 100,000,000 from the current budget?

Yea, neither do they:

House Republican leaders on Thursday said they would seek $32 billion in spending cuts from the resolution currently funding the government.

Republicans framed their proposal as cutting $74 billion from President Obama’s 2011 budget request. However, because Obama’s budget was never approved by the last Congress, the cuts would actually be made against a continuing resolution now funding the government.

That resolution is to expire on March 4, and if lawmakers do not agree on another short-term measure or one funding the government for the rest of the year, they risk a government shutdown.

The GOP decision sets up a two-front battle with congressional Democrats and President Obama, who have warned that immediate spending cuts would damage the economy, and with conservative Tea Party-backed Republicans who want to make deeper cuts to spending.

The Congressional Budget Office has projected a $1.5 trillion deficit for the year.

The proposed spending ceiling is less than the GOP pledge during the fall campaign to cut $100 billion in “non-security” discretionary funding.