Lawmakers in the Republican-led chamber have been at

Work since Tuesday on a spending bill to fund government operations

For the 2011 fiscal year that ends September 30, laboriously

Dealing with nearly 600 amendments to the

Measure.

Final House passage was expected as early as Friday,

setting the stage for a pitched battle with the Senate, which was

all but certain to roll back many of the reductions and

force hard-fought negotiations on a compromise.

A current stopgap spending measure expires March 4,

and increasingly nasty verbal sparring and finger-pointing in

the US Congress could lead to a failure to adopt a replacement,

triggering a government shutdown.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and US Secretary of

State Hillary Clinton have both strongly warned lawmakers that

overly deep cuts risk eroding US influence overseas and

triggering crises hurting national security.

"We need the resources to do the job, otherwise we will pay

a higher price later in crises that are allowed to simmer and boil

over into conflicts," Clinton said Monday.

"Drastic reductions in the size and strength of the US

military make armed conflict all the more likely

with an unacceptably high cost in American blood and treasure,"

Gates told lawmakers Wednesday.

Republicans have vowed to largely spare the Pentagon, and keep

aid to Israel and Egypt intact, but said Washington needs to

tighten its belt to deflate its yearly budget deficit and

reducing its swollen national debt.

"To reduce uncertainty and create a better environment

for job creation, we need to cut wasteful spending and we need

to stop Washington's spending binge,"

said Republican House Speaker John Boehner.

The House and Senate were to be in recess next week, giving them little time to agree on a compromise to avert

a government shutdown

which would freeze government retirement

checks and other basic services from Washington.

Democrats have denounced an array of foreign aid cuts

in the Republican-crafted bill, warning that paring back the

US State Department's funds could notably hurt its efforts in

Iraq and Afghanistan.

Democrats have also highlighted how the bill would slash

the budget of the US Agency of International Development,

overseas economic development monies, global disaster and refugee

aid, and funds to battle HIV/AIDS.