WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted on Friday to choke off cash to fund President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, stepping up a fight with Democrats over budget cuts and deficits.

The House's move against the 2010 healthcare law -- one of Obama's main legislative victories -- is certain to be rejected by the Democratic-led Senate, but it has raised tensions over federal spending that could lead to a government shutdown.

On largely party-line votes, the House approved several amendments to deny funds to federal agencies to implement the healthcare overhaul, which Republicans deride as a costly government intrusion into the marketplace.

Financial markets are closely watching fights over spending, as Obama and Republicans position themselves for the 2012 presidential election, and Republicans flex their muscles after congressional election victories last year.

Political gridlock could cause a shutdown of government next month, and a separate showdown over whether to allow the United States to borrow more is also brewing.

A temporary bill to fund the government expires on March 4, and failure to reach agreement means lawmakers will either have to pass another stopgap spending bill or allow many government operations to come to a halt.

The healthcare measures were part of a Republican-led bill that would cut spending for domestic programs by $61.5 billion through September to try to rein in the record U.S. budget deficit.

Democratic Representative Sander Levin said the risk of a federal shutdown was heightened by the Republicans' healthcare amendment.

"Instead of searching for common ground, this amendment intensifies warfare," Levin said. "The Republicans have become a wrecking crew."

Republicans say the healthcare reform burdens doctors, insurers and employers with unnecessary costs and bureaucracy as the country is slowly recovering from a recession. The law is aimed at ensuring more Americans get medical insurance and provide consumer protections in the healthcare industry.

SLASH SPENDING

The House was expected to approve the broad spending bill, which would slash domestic programs for the rest of this fiscal year, later on Friday or early on Saturday.

Polls show Americans sharply divided on the healthcare law. Republicans cite their elections win last year to justify holding back healthcare law money.

"The American people in November said it's time not only to repeal this but to defund this," Republican Representative Tom Graves said. Republicans won control of the House in November.

The healthcare amendment is just one of many Republican measures, a number of them backed by the Tea Party movement, that Obama and the Senate are expected to reject.

In votes on other amendments on Friday, the House approved two more conservative initiatives sure to deepen opposition in the Senate.

One would save $363.2 million by denying federal funds to Planned Parenthood, a family planning agency that provides services for women, including abortion. There already is a prohibition against using federal funds for abortions, but the Republican amendment would hit other Planned Parenthood activities.

The second amendment would stop the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing rules related to emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas pollutants.

Obama has outlined his own plan for less severe spending cuts in 2012 to shrink a deficit expected to be about $1.65 trillion this year, equivalent to 10.9 percent of the economy.

He has warned that tightening the belt too much too soon could harm the slow economic recovery.

On Thursday, the House approved an amendment to deny $131 million for the Securities and Exchange Commission, which could hinder its attempts to implement last year's financial regulation law that cracked down on Wall Street.

Conservative Republicans were also pushing an amendment to give the Treasury Department the ability to avoid a debt default if U.S. borrowing authority runs out, highlighting possible dire consequences of political gridlock.

The proposal has been described by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as "unworkable." Even if it gets through the House, it is certain to be blocked in the Senate.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Kim Dixon; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Vicki Allen and Peter Cooney)

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WASHINGTON – The Republican-controlled House voted to shield greenhouse-gas polluters and privately owned colleges from federal regulators on Friday, strengthening the pro-business emphasis of legislation that also would chop $61 billion from government spending.

But as a final vote neared on the sweeping measure, newly elected conservatives suffered a rare setback when a split among rank-and-file Republicans sank a move to cut an additional $22 billion.

"The American people have spoken. They demand that Washington stop its out-of-control spending now, not some time in the future," declared Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., one of the 87 newly elected Republicans who have moved aggressively to attack federal deficits and reduce government's reach.

But for other Republicans, the extra $22 billion was a step too far.

"Rather than make careful decisions on specific program the. amendment hits everything indiscriminately in a heavy-handed way," said Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., and principal author of the broader measure. "We were elected to make choices, not run on automatic pilot."

At the end of a week of sessions stretching well past midnight, the House moved toward a final vote on the $1.2 trillion bill that is needed to keep the government in operation when existing funding authority expires on March 4.

The measure, packed with cuts to hundreds of federal programs and terminations of others, faces a veto threat from President Barack Obama and implacable opposition from majority Democrats in the Senate. As a result, it is unclear how much of it will ever become law.

At the same time, it has spawned an intensifying political struggle over spending, with current funding for federal agencies due to expire in two weeks.

Republicans and Democrats have already accused each other of favoring a government shutdown when funding expires, and the two sides are maneuvering for political advantage in anticipation of talks on a short-term extension that will be needed.

The flurry of decisions during the day, combined with votes cast earlier in the week, underscored the impact on the House of the 87 freshmen who were elected to their first terms last fall with tea party support.

On a vote of 240-185, the House approved a provision that would block Planned Parenthood from receiving any federal money. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., who proposed the move, said, "It is morally wrong to take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life Americans and use them to fund organizations that provide and promote abortion."

Debate over the issue grew intense Thursday night, when Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., read a description of a graphic second-trimester abortion procedure on the House floor.

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., responded with an emotional speech disclosing having undergone an abortion as her 17-week pregnancy was failing. "For you to stand on this floor and to suggest as you have that somehow this is a procedure that is either welcomed or done cavalierly or done without any thought is preposterous," she said.

Under current law, federal funds may not be used for abortions except in the cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is in danger.

Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said the GOP proposal would "make it harder to access pap tests, breast exams, routine gynecological examinations, flu vaccinations, smoking cessation services, cholesterol screening, contraceptives and all of the other services that Planned Parenthood provides."

On another front, Republicans voted three times in slightly different ways to ban the use of federal funds to implement the year-old health care law. The House has voted previously to repeal the new law.

The move to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse-gas polluters came from Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, who said his congressional district is home to more oil refineries than any other.

"We're in the midst of a massive economic downturn and the last thing we need to do is shoot ourselves in the foot with unnecessary, expensive new regulations that are on business and industry," he said.

But Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., said the proposal was the worst of a series of regulation-negating provisions backed by Republicans.

Citing a widespread scientific consensus that greenhouse gases cause climate change, he said, "This amendment bars EPA from acting, from carrying out its responsibilities."

Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., backed the move to block the Obama administration from enforcing a proposed regulation setting requirements for schools in order for their students to receive federal loans or grants. The requirements involve the amount of debt students accumulate and their earning potential after graduation.

Kline said the proposed rule had triggered a public outcry, and he labeled it "an outright attack on the private sector" that was costing jobs and would continue to do so.

But critics said the for-profit private schools run up large profit margins while leaving students with unmanageable debts after they graduate. The colleges enroll only about 10-12 percent of students in the country, yet receive 23 percent of all federal loans and grants.

Kline's proposal was approved on a vote of 289-136, and, a short while later, Republicans assured approval of Poe's restriction on the EPA, 249-176.

The votes marked the latest evidence of the anti-regulation bent of the new GOP majority.

On Thursday, the House voted to block regulations governing the emission of mercury from cement plants and to stop the Federal Communications Commission from enforcing proposed regulations opposed by Verizon and other large Internet Service Providers.

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Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor and Alan Fram contributed to this story

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