Rep. Mike Pence tried to pick a fight with the U.S. Senate over federal spending cuts Tuesday. Most of his colleagues preferred a cooling-off period instead.

The House voted 271-158 in favor of another short-term appropriations bill, this one for three weeks. If approved by the Senate and signed by President Obama before Saturday, the measure will prevent a government shutdown while negotiators work on a longer-term spending plan.

Pence, who said last week that conservatives “need to pick a fight” with Senate Democrats over spending disparities, repeated his challenge Tuesday when he said he would oppose the latest stopgap funding proposal, which would last through April 8.

“It will not be possible to put our fiscal house in order without a fight,” he said in a statement about GOP attempts to pare tens of billions of dollars more than the Democratic Senate will agree to.

“By giving liberals in the Senate another three weeks of negotiations, we will only delay a confrontation that must come,” he said. “I say, let it come now. It’s time to take a stand.”

Pence was among 54 Republicans who split with GOP leadership to vote against the stopgap legislation, which lops $6 billion off current spending levels. Other defectors included Reps. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd, and Dan Burton, R-5th.

“Republicans need to up the ante and push for a resolution to bring stability to the economy,” Stutzman said in a statement.

“Extension after extension, week by week is not a guideline that will lead to job creation or allow for the economy to recover,” he said.

Eighty-five Democrats, including all three from Indiana, voted in favor of the short-term extension, ensuring its passage. It’s the fourth temporary funding bill since last fall, when Congress failed to approve a budget for fiscal 2011.

Pence, Stutzman and other conservatives have supported a House resolution that would slash $61 billion in appropriations through Sept. 30 and eliminate federal money for Planned Parenthood, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the health care law. The Senate defeated that proposal and a competing bill last week.

The federal budget deficit exceeds $1.6 trillion. During debate Tuesday on the House floor, Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., called the $10 billion in cuts contained in the current and proposed temporary extensions “the largest recission in American history.” Many of the cuts come from earlier earmarks – projects won by legislators for their home states and districts.

Some lawmakers lamented programs that were being gutted Tuesday, including one that provides federal funds for local police departments. But much of the criticism was aimed at lawmakers’ inability to draft a permanent spending plan.

“This is a lousy way to run a railroad,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who voted for the measure.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement that Obama “has been clear: With the wide range of issues facing our nation, we cannot keep funding the government in two- or three-week increments.”

Carney also said, “We have already met Republicans halfway” on spending reductions.

bfrancisco@jg.net