Republican lawmakers on the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee reportedly have approved a budget proposal for 2007 that would cut federal education spending by more than $5 billion, or close to 7 percent, according to an Associated Press report republished in The Houston Chronicle. The cuts are part of a $2.8 trillion spending package sponsored by Budget Committee Chair Jim Nussle, R-Iowa. Nussle reportedly dropped President Bush’s proposed cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, crop subsidies, and other politically sensitive programs but preserved his plan to trim spending by most Cabinet agencies, the report said.