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10A – Daily News – Saturday, April 16, 2011 Furniture Depot 235 So. Main St., Red Bluff 527-1657 MON.-FRI. 9:00-6:00 SAT. 9:00-5:00 • SUN. 11:00-5:00 WORLD BRIEFING House OKs GOP plan to cut $6 trillion WASHINGTON (AP) — In a prelude to a summer showdown with President Barack Obama, Republi- cans controlling the House pushed to passage on Friday a bold but politically dan- gerous budget blueprint to slash social safety net pro- grams like food stamps and Medicaid and fundamental- ly restructure Medicare health care for the elderly. The nonbinding plan lays out a fiscal vision cut- ting $6.2 trillion from year- ly federal deficits over the coming decade and calls for transforming Medicare from a program in which the government directly pays medical bills into a voucher-like system that subsidizes purchases of pri- vate insurance plans The GOP budget passed 235-193 with every Demo- crat voting ‘‘no.’’ Obama said in an Associated Press interview that it would ‘‘make Medicare into a voucher program. That’s something that we strongly object to.’’ The vote sets up the Republicans’ next round of NOW OPEN • Wedding • Prom • Formal 2295 Hilltop Drive Suite B Redding, CA www.thepinkbeanboutique.com confrontation with Obama and Democrats over must- pass legislation to allow the government to borrow more money to finance its opera- tions and obligations to holders of U.S. bonds. For the first time, Obama acknowledged that raising the debt limit is ‘‘not going to happen without some spending cuts’’ insisted upon by Republicans and some Democrats. Under the House Repub- lican plan approved Friday, deficits requiring the federal government to borrow more than 40 cents for every dol- lar it spends would be cut by the end of the decade to 8 cents of borrowing for every dollar spent. Failure to raise debt could cause recession CHICAGO (AP) — President Barack Obama confidently predicted Fri- day that a divided Congress would raise the nation’s borrowing limit to cover the staggering federal debt rather than risk triggering a worldwide recession, but he conceded for the first time he would have to offer more spending cuts to Republi- cans to get a deal. Pushed to the brink, Obama said, the two parties would find ‘‘a smart com- promise.’’ In an interview with The Associated Press, Obama also took pains to promote his long-term plan to cuts trillions of dollars from fed- eral deficits as a fairer, more compassionate alternative to a Republican plan that surged to party-line passage Friday afternoon in the House. And Obama said in his most forceful terms yet that he had the economic record to win re-election after he had ‘‘been able to yank this economy’’ out of recession. One week after the near government shutdown — Obama signed the bill final- izing that legislation after returning to the White House — the rejuvenated president answered ques- tions in his hometown fol- lowing an evening of fundraising for his re-elec- tion bid and a rare night in his own bed. Storms roar through South CRYSTAL SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Powerful spring storms roared through parts of the South on Friday, toppling trees, smashing buildings and killing at least nine people, including two sets of par- ents and children who were huddled together as the winds raged outside their homes. It was the deadliest storm of the season so far. At least one tornado accom- panied the onslaught, but much of the damage was attributed to straight-line winds — sudden, violent downbursts that struck with hurricane force in the mid- dle of the night. As the storm howled through Crystal Springs, Eden Davis woke up, grabbed her young child and sat on the edge of the bed waiting to pull a mat- tress over both of them to shield the pair from flying debris. ‘‘I’ve never been so ner- vous about a storm,’’ she said. ‘‘I was asleep, but my fiance called me and told me to wake up and that I needed to watch the news because the weather was getting real bad.’’ Troops shell rebel-held Misrata TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Moammar Gadhafi’s troops launched a powerful assault with tanks and rock- ets Friday on Misrata, the last major rebel city in west- ern Libya, sending residents fleeing to increasingly crowded safe areas of the city that are still out of the Libyan leader’s reach, wit- nesses said. Misrata has become emblematic of the limits of NATO’s air campaign, with the alliance’s top military commander saying he needs more precision attack aircraft to avoid civilian casualties in urban combat. President Barack Obama acknowledged in an inter- view that the two-month- old civil war has reached a stalemate. After a weeklong flurry of high-level diplomatic meetings in Europe and the Middle East, rebel leaders complained that the inter- national community is not doing enough to keep Gad- hafi’s troops at bay. In the capital of Tripoli, a govern- ment official denied Libyan troops are shelling Misrata and said they are only taking defensive actions. COMFORT SERVICE INC. Air Conditioning & Heating Tehama Counties Factory authorized Bryant Dealer Your First Call For Comfort • RESIDENTIAL • COMMERCIAL • NEW CONSTRUCTION • SALES • SERVICE • REPAIRS 24 HOUR SERVICE 530 529-1990 Lic #593323 www.CascadeComfort.com $10 OFF SERVICE CALL Mention this ad for Whatever it takessm CASCADE stock on hand Thru April 30th, 2011 *Limited to 1/2 off Select Items*