Lugar, who is facing a Tea Party-backed challenge in the 2012 Indiana Republican primary, is taking a political risk. But he and other centrist Republicans have concerns about steep spending cuts that will eliminate funding for some federal programs in mid-year.
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Lugar declined to state his reasons for opposing the bill as he entered a weekly lunch meeting with his Republican colleagues in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Room on the second floor of the Capitol.
āIām opposed to it,ā Lugar said.
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