WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Republicans voted Thursday to cut spending on federal entitlement programs for the first time in eight years, but not the way President Bush wanted.

Even in advance of the 52-47 vote, the White House was stirring up veto talk because one of the programs being chopped is dear to President Bush. About 15 percent of the $35 billion in savings over the next five years would come through eliminating $5.4 billion in subsidies to some regional insurance companies that signed onto Bush's Medicare prescription drug program getting under way in January.

His GOP allies were not pleased by what they regarded as a nit being picked.

"Absurd," said Judd Gregg, R-New Hampshire, of the veto threat. After spending all week carrying the White House's water, Gregg added: "I have to catch a plane."

Bush didn't make too much of the veto threat issued in his name, instead thanking the Senate for the cuts to health care programs for the elderly, poor and disabled while leaving food stamps untouched.

"Today, the Senate took an important step forward in cutting the deficit," Bush said in a statement from Mar del Plata, Argentina, where he is attending a conference. "Congress needs to send me a spending-reduction package this year to keep us on track to cutting the deficit in half."

The measure also permits exploratory oil drilling in an Alaskan wilderness area. Five Republicans in the GOP-controlled Senate who oppose the drilling voted against the bill. (Full story)

The spending battle now heads to the House, where Republicans are divided over whether to cut more deeply across a broader range of social programs. Also, House GOP leaders may remove a provision that allows the drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The Senate bill is estimated to trim $36 billion, or 2 percent, from budget deficits forecast at $1.6 trillion over five years. The cuts total $6 billion for the plan's first year, with deficits predicted to exceed $300 billion.

Still, Republicans said the debate was an important moment for their party, which gained control of Congress 11 years ago with promises to balance the budget. The return of intractable deficits and surging spending has caused heartburn for many Republicans over their record on spending and addressing budget deficits.

The long-planned budget measure would make the first cuts to mandatory programs since 1997. These programs account for 55 percent of the budget and include Medicare, Medicaid, farm subsidies and student loan subsidies.

"This is a major step forward," said Gregg, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. "It is a step towards fiscal responsibility and it is a reflection of the Republican Congress' commitment to pursue the path of fiscal responsibility."

Democrats generally opposed the bill because it allows the oil drilling and increases the deficit when coupled with a $70 billion tax cut bill that they say largely benefits well-off taxpayers.

"Their budget ... actually would make the deficit worse," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada. "That's fiscally irresponsible at any time, but especially when we should be saving to prepare for the baby boomers' retirement."

Yet Republicans did pick up the support of two Democrats, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, whose hurricane-devastated state won emergency aid under the bill.

Also Thursday, the House Budget Committee approved a $54 billion deficit-reduction bill on a party-line vote. But so many GOP lawmakers are unhappy with the bill that Republican leaders acknowledge it will have to be reworked before a final vote in the full House next week.

It appears increasingly likely that protests from moderates will force House GOP leaders to drop the oil drilling plan and revisit it in final compromise talks with the Senate.

The Senate Republicans who opposed the budget bill over the drilling issue were Norm Coleman of Minnesota; Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine; Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island; and Mike DeWine of Ohio.

The bill reflects the influence of moderates who provided swing votes in the full Senate and Senate Finance Committee, which came up with proposals to curb the growth in Medicaid and Medicare.

As a result, the Senate's cuts largely protect beneficiaries of the programs, while turning to drug companies, pharmacies and insurance subsidies for much of the savings. The Agriculture Committee, meantime, dropped plans to cut food stamps.

Still, there is plenty of sugar to go along with the fiscal medicine. The bill contains about $35 billion in new spending to go along with the cuts:

# Doctors would get an $11 billion reprieve next year from a scheduled 4.3 percent cut in their Medicare payments.

# Dairy farmers won a $1 billion extension of milk income payments.

# College students would get more than $8 billion in new grants.

# More disabled children would retain Medicaid health coverage.

Senators also approved a $2.7 billion plan by Sens. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, and Edward M. Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, to lower student loan processing fees and provide aid to students and schools in hurricane zones.

It passed after the Senate rejected, 68-31, a bid by conservatives to make much of the aid available through school vouchers.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Note the original headline from CNN, "Senate passes bill to slash spending." Did their headline writer even read the article? CNN should divorce itself from GOP talking points and write news articles using the assumption that we're not as dumb as the republican party.