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House Republicans on Thursday continued their steady march toward approving the largest spending cuts in modern history – a swift, huge slash of more than $60 billion from domestic programs and foreign aid that Republicans said would fulfill their promise to shrink government outlays, but Democrats said would harm the fragile economic recovery.

The White House has already threatened to veto the bill, and Senate Democrats have voiced strong objections to the scale of cuts by the House Republicans, putting the parties on a collision course that officials warned could lead to a shutdown of the federal government early next month.

The stop-gap measure now financing the government expires on March 4, and the speaker of the House, John A. Boehner of Ohio, bluntly warned on Thursday that Republicans would not agree to even a temporary extension unless it reduced spending, which is now generally being held at 2010 levels.

“When we say we’re going to cut spending,” Mr. Boehner intoned at a news conference, “read my lips: ‘we’re going to cut spending.’”

While Mr. Boehner accused Democrats of threatening to shut the government down to avoid making cuts, Democrats accused Republicans of risking a shutdown by refusing to compromise. “It is unproductive to resort to threats of a shutdown without any negotiations,” the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said in a statement.

After working through Wednesday night and into the predawn hours on Thursday, lawmakers returned to the House floor and clashed fiercely over proposed amendments to the spending measure. A final vote was not expected until after midnight, but with the new Republican majority resolute in executing big cuts, the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Republicans now control the House 241 to 193 with one vacancy.

Because the rules of debate required that any restorations in funding be offset with corresponding cuts elsewhere, the total reductions were certain to exceed the roughly $60 billion originally included in the spending measure by the House Appropriations Committee. The bill covers spending for the remainder of the current fiscal year, which runs through Sept. 30.

While the final tally remained to be counted, there was no doubt that House Republicans would succeed in approving their bill after the sort of raucous free-wheeling debate that has been a rarity in the House in recent years. Rank-and-file lawmakers put forward hundreds of amendments, and the outcome of some votes went against the wishes of Republican leaders.

Mr. Boehner said the debate underscored his commitment to letting the House work its will. But long before the vote, he was promoting the outcome. “As part of our effort to liberate our economy from the shackles of out-of-control spending,” he said, “the House will soon vote to cut discretionary spending by over $100 billion over the last seven months of this fiscal year.”

He added, “That’s five times larger than any discretionary spending cuts ever considered by the House. We’ve exceeded the commitment that we made in our Pledge to America, and there are more reforms and cuts to come.”

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Drew Angerer/The New York Times Over on the Senate side of the Capitol, Senator Michael Bennet, Democrat of Colorado, right, introduced his children to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

The Capitol has been flooded with 7-year-old boys in ties. Many of them struggled Wednesday to free themselves from the premature choke hold of adulthood, but were thwarted by their mothers, many of them draped in something sparkling and knee-length. The mothers swatted at the tiny hands of their sons, smoothed their wayward cowlicks and directed them to use the bathroom before heading to the House floor.

When a new Congress commences – especially one that welcomes scores of new members – the well-dressed children, long lines to board the Congressional subway and fresh hydrangeas dotting reception rooms are all part of the scene.

Granted a single ticket for a guest on the floor (although young children do not need them), new members spent much of the morning jockeying for extra ones for the many guests they hoped would join them for the big moment.

Before taking the official oaths, the new members headed to the Speaker’s Lobby to pick up the goods – a member’s pin, a voting card, which resembles a driver’s license and the all-important license plate – signifying their new status. Many also attended an early morning bipartisan prayer service at St. Peter’s Church, not far from the House office buildings.

For those who intend to sleep in their offices – because they cannot afford the second set of digs in the capital, or because they are making a point – fresh sheets were unwrapped and new comforters were readied for office couches.

Some new members walked in circles, perhaps in search of an elevator, or directed one another to the Speaker’s Lobby. “Know where you’re going?” said James Lankford of Oklahoma, as he passed Cory Gardner of Colorado in the hallway between House office buildings. “No not yet!” his new colleague replied cheerfully. It’s totally O.K. to be lost this Wednesday. By next Wednesday it might get old.

Over on the Senate side, it was a bit less hectic, but no less formal. Former vice president Dan Quayle, who is hardly a fixture on the Hill these days, escorted Senator Dan Coats, who first replaced Mr. Quayle in the Indiana seat when he became vice president, then retired from the Senate in 1999, and now is back. Mr. Quayle had other business at the Capitol today, too. His son Ben was sworn in as a new member of the House, representing the Third District of Arizona.

Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader in the Senate, was escorted to his swearing in by Paul Laxalt, a former senator and governor of Nevada; notably missing from his side was John Ensign, the Republican senator from his state, whose absence seemed an unusual break with Senate decorum. Another ceremonial statement in a day full of them.

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 5, 2011

An earlier version of this blog post misidentified the senator in the photo.

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From Today’s Times:

The compromise on the Bush-era tax cuts – expected to come up for a key vote in the Senate this afternoon – is an effort to stimulate the economy  that could pay big political dividends to President Obama and other Democrats in 2012. Even as White House advisers admitted on Sunday that parts of the plan remained problematic, they were confident it would pass the House.Representative Ron Paul of Texas, often shunned by fellow Republicans because of his libertarian views, is seeing his power increase in the new Congress as the more members of the party gravitate toward his ideas.Many House Democrats are still in shock over the tax deal that the White House struck – mainly with Senate Republicans – and the most incredulous of them say the administration made a bad bargain even as it left fellow Democrats out of the loop during negotiations.The Times’s John Harwood looks at how the Democrats are coping with the political, logistical and emotional realities of the party’s diminished role in Washington.Election officials in Chicago will spend the week in proceedings to determine whether Rahm Emanuel, who lived in Washington while he worked at the White House until October, maintains legal residency in Chicago, a city that requires candidates for mayor to be residents for at least a year before an election. Mr. Emanuel, of course, left his position as Mr. Obama’s chief of staff to run for mayor of Chicago and is expected to testify as early as Tuesday.

From Around the Web:

The Senate majority leader to be, John Boehner, got teary-eyed in an interview on “60 Minutes” broadcast Sunday night. He also insisted, “I’ve never been in a tanning salon in my life, I’ve never used a tanning product in my life.”

Today in Washington:

A federal judge in Richmond, Va., is expected to hand down his decision on the constitutionality of the new health care law today and could become the first to rule against it. Among the 25 lawsuits pending across the country challenging the federal statute, two federal judges have ruled that it is constitutional.At 10:25 a.m., Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, will speak at the signing ceremony for the child nutrition bill held at a Washington area elementary school. The legislation expands the school lunch program and strives for improved quality by increasing servings of fruits and vegetables. Later at 2 p.m., Mrs. Obama, who lobbied intensively for the bill, reads to children at the Children’s National Medical Center.The president spends his afternoon in meetings first with the Los Angeles Lakers, who just won their second consecutive NBA championship, then with ambassadors to the United Nations and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.In the evening, Mr. Obama speaks at the diplomatic corps holiday reception at the State Department.The House majority leader, Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, will speak at the National Press Club at 10 a.m.

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Drew Angerer/The New York Times Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, center, announced shortly after the vote their intention to introduce a new bill to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Senator Mark Udall, Democrat of Colorado, joined them at the podium.

4:31 p.m. | Updated A Republican senator and an independent senator said today that they will jointly introduce a stand-alone bill to repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy after a larger defense bill containing the repeal failed to advance in the Senate.

Senate Republicans blocked the attempt to move ahead with the bill that would have repealed the ban on gay troops serving openly in the military. The vote was 57-40, almost entirely along party lines, and three short of the 60 needed.

The vote was a setback to President Obama and the Democratic leadership, who have made repealing the Clinton-era policy a key priority. And it short-circuited the efforts of a handful of Republicans who said they supported a repeal but wanted more time to negotiate the process of debating and voting on the measure.

The lawmaker leading that effort, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, voted in favor of the motion but was not joined by any of her colleagues. Ms. Collins and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, an independent, announced shortly after the vote their intention to introduce a new bill.

“I am convinced that there are 60 or even 61 or 62 votes to repeal ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’,” Ms. Collins told reporters. “I’m extremely disappointed that the Senate majority leader walked away from negotiations in which we were engaged and which were going well.”

A spokesman for Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, said Mr. Reid will co-sponsor the stand-alone legislation. “We do intend to take a free-standing bill to the floor,” said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Mr. Reid.

But a bill focused solely on repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy faces steep challenges, including the likelihood that supporters of the policy in the Senate could seek to offer numerous amendments during a debate over the legislation.

In a statement, President Obama said he was disappointed that “yet another filibuster” by Republicans had blocked the defense bill and the provisions to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

“A minority of Senators were willing to block this important legislation largely because they oppose the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’” Mr. Obama said. “While today’s vote was disappointing, it must not be the end of our efforts. I urge the Senate to revisit these important issues during the lame duck session.”

Mr. Reid had called for the procedural vote on the overall defense bill despite having failed to reach agreement with the Republicans on how to proceed. In a statement after the vote, Ms. Collins said those negotiations were “going well” and she accused Mr. Reid of walking away from the discussions.

Republicans had earlier indicated that without an agreement about the number of amendments and the timing of the debate, they would vote against moving forward to vote on the legislation.

Advocates of repealing the policy criticized the vote, saying the effort to allow gays to serve openly in the military had fallen victim to political squabbles in the Congress. One newly elected Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, also voted against the measure.

“Today leaders of both parties let down the U.S. military and the American people,” said Joe Solmonese, president of Human Rights Campaign. “Instead of doing what is right, ‘the world’s greatest deliberative body’ devolved into shameful schoolyard spats that put petty partisan politics above the needs of our women and men in uniform.”

Mr. Solmonese vowed that “this fight is too important to give up despite this setback and we will continue fighting in this lame duck session. It’s not over.”

A veterans group also expressed anger at the vote, which delays approval of the massive military spending bill to which the repeal was attached. The Congress has not failed to pass a military spending bill for decades.

“By voting to filibuster the Defense Authorization Act, today, a minority of Senators have betrayed our troops,” said Ashwin Madia, interim chairman of VoteVets.org. “Leaving aside ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ this bill is crucial to our military readiness, and funding our troops in harm’s way.”

Prior to the vote, Mr. Reid conceded that that the failure to reach an agreement could doom the effort to repeal the policy, which has been a key priority for President Obama and gay activists.

“Despite the critical importance for our troops, for our nation, and for justice that we get this bill done, we have not been able to reach an agreement,” Mr. Reid said this afternoon. “And I regret to say that it is our troops who will pay the price for our inability to overcome partisan political posturing.”

Mr. Reid’s decision to move forward in an attempt to force a vote caught senators off guard, including Ms. Collins, who had been negotiating with Mr. Reid about the terms of the debate.

In an impassioned, impromptu speech, Ms. Collins complained that she wanted to vote in favor of the overall bill, including the repeal provision, but could not do so without an agreement on the process first.

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Democrats in the Senate hoping to pass nonbudget-related legislation in the lame-duck session were put on notice by their Republican colleagues Wednesday morning: No tax-cut extension? No laws for you!

In a letter signed by the 42 members of the Republican caucus, delivered to the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, and mentioned Wednesday on the Senate floor by the minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republicans informed their Democratic counterparts that they would not go forward with “any legislative item until the Senate has acted to fund the government and we have prevented the tax increase that is currently awaiting all American taxpayers.”

The letter goes on: “With little time left in this Congressional session, legislative scheduling should be focused on these critical priorities. While there are other items that might ultimately be worthy of the Senate’s attention, we cannot agree to prioritize any matters above the critical issues of funding the government and preventing a job-killing tax hike.” 

Washington is locked in a battle over what to do about the Bush-era tax cuts, which expire at the end of the year. President Obama and Democratic lawmakers want to extend the cuts to all Americans except those with income above $250,000, while Republicans want tax cuts extended to Americans at all income levels. Another idea that has been kicking around over the last few weeks — proposed by some Democrats — is raising the expiration income ceiling to households with at least $1 million in income.

At the same time, Congress needs to make a legislative move to keep the government funded before the 112th Congress takes over in January.

Democrats were hoping to force a more ambitious agenda into the final weeks, including the ratification of the New Start treaty, a military authorization bill that would repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” provision, the extension of unemployment funds and the Dream Act, an immigration bill.

“If they really cared about creating jobs, they should stop blocking a preservation of unemployment insurance, which would create or save hundred of thousands of jobs,” Jim Manley, a spokesman for Mr. Reid, said in an e-mail. “Unfortunately this letter is nothing new. Republicans have simply put in writing their political strategy which they have pursued over the last two years: obstruct and delay action on critical matters, and then blame the Democrats for not addressing the needs of the American people. This strategy is very cynical but very obvious and transparent.”

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: December 1, 2010

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this post said that Senator Harry Reid was from Arizona. He is from Nevada.

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The nation’s top two defense officials are scheduled to head to Capitol Hill next week to discuss a Pentagon report gauging the potential effects of repealing the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has scheduled hearings on the issue for Dec. 2 and 3, with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Michael G. Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, among those slated to testify on the first day.

Mr. Gates and Mr. Mullen’s appearance is scheduled to come two days after the expected release of the Pentagon study, and as congressional opponents of the policy that bars gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military try to repeal it during a lame-duck session.

People familiar with a draft of the Pentagon report have said it concludes that repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” might create short-term problems within the military, but that those could be handled with strong leadership. The study was set for release on Dec. 1, but Mr. Gates moved the schedule up a day so lawmakers would have more time to examine the report.

In addition to Mr. Gates and Admiral Mullen, the two officials who led the Pentagon review — Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon’s general counsel, and Gen. Carter F. Ham of the Army – are also scheduled to testify on Dec. 2. Gen. James F. Amos, the commandant of the Marine Corps; Gen. George W. Casey Jr. , the Army chief of staff; and Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff – all of whom have expressed reluctance about lifting the ban – are among those expected to testify on Dec. 3.

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said last week that he would push to pass the defense legislation that includes the “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal during the lame-duck session.

Consideration of that measure was blocked in September, but Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut said recently that he and other repeal supporters have enough votes to pass the bill if Senate leaders allowed extensive debate.

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