WASHINGTON — The seniors' lobby AARP is supporting $460 billion in Medicare cuts to help pay for landmark health care legislation.

As Republicans pressed to restore the cuts, AARP said today that Democrats were recommending only to eliminate waste and inefficiency within the giant health care program for seniors.

A vote was expected later today on the issue, one of two that has dominated early debate on health care legislation that President Barack Obama has urged Congress to enact.

Calls for expanded no-cost preventive services for women was the other.

Overall, the legislation is designed to extend health care to millions of Americans who now lack it and generally slow the rate of growth in medical spending overall.