Facing defeat, Senate GOP postpones budget vote

Friday, May 21st 2004, 6:13 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Republican leaders say they will try again to win Senate passage of a $2.4 trillion budget, after avoiding an embarrassing election-year defeat Thursday by postponing a vote on the measure until at least next month.

But pivotal GOP moderate senators oppose the plan because of concerns over cutting taxes at a time of record deficits, and they say there is no reason to change their minds.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's decision to postpone the vote came hours after President Bush used a rare visit to the Capitol to urge Republicans to push the measure to final passage. The House narrowly approved the legislation Wednesday.

``I'm disappointed I haven't been able to pass yet the budget proposed by the president,'' Frist, R-Tenn., told a reporter. ``But it's not over.''

Shortly after the president's private session with Republicans, the White House issued a statement in which Bush said: ``I urge the Senate to follow the House's lead and pass this budget so that we can continue making progress on our shared agenda of building a safer, stronger, and better America.''

But that _ along with the harsh reproof that House GOP leaders directed at moderates this week _ proved insufficient to win votes. Those maverick senators were Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both R-Maine; Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I.; John McCain, R-Ariz.; and a Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

``I think they're just sore we we're right and we've gotten into deficits,'' Chafee said of the House leaders' remarks. ``We all try and be team players when we can, but I think the core Republican philosophy is fiscal conservatism.''

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., had asked reporters if one holdout, McCain, was a Republican. And House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said the moderates ``need to read the Republican philosophy'' of cutting taxes.

Frist and other Republicans expressed hope that the chamber would revisit the compromise spending plan after Congress' weeklong Memorial Day recess, which begins Friday. But it was unclear when, or if, the Senate would address the measure or perhaps a truncated version that would help the chamber work on later tax and spending bills.

The moderates and nearly all Democrats say tax cuts should be curbed because they would deepen federal deficits. Bush and GOP congressional leaders oppose such restrictions; they view them as roadblocks to their agenda of repeated tax cuts.

This stalemate has persisted for two months, despite earlier statements by GOP leaders that they would complete the plan by April 15.

``They control the House, Senate and White House. They just seem incapable of organizing in a way to meet about any objectives,'' said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.

Republicans said they believed they could eventually prevail.

``Stews take a long time to cook in the Senate,'' said Sen. George Allen, R-Va.

The budget would increase defense and anti-terror spending while holding most domestic programs level. It would also deliver a fraction of the tax cuts Bush wants _ along with a near-record $367 billion deficit.

The budget sets guidelines for future tax and spending legislation and does not need the president's signature. Lawmakers can later work on measures without a budget, but they would lack its procedural advantages that would make those bills easier to pass.

To keep deficits under control, the moderates want to require any tax cuts or benefit increases over the next five years to be paid for with tax increases or spending cuts. That restriction could be ignored if 60 of the 100 senators voted to do so.

The compromise budget imposes the restriction only through next April 15, and it exempts the only tax bill likely to become law during that period.

The budget would:

_Allow $55 billion in tax cuts next year, though only half are likely to become law because they would be exempted from Senate stalling tactics. Bush proposed $1.3 trillion in 10-year tax cuts.

_Provide the $421 billion Bush wants for defense, 7 percent over this year. There is another $50 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, of which Bush has so far requested half.

_Increase domestic security by 15 percent to $31 billion, while holding remaining domestic programs to $369 billion, $2 billion over this year.