WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans on Thursday put off a Senate vote on a $2.4 trillion 2005 budget for at least a week after moderates in the party refused to push it through, citing concerns about the record fiscal deficit.
The decision came just hours after President Bush visited Congress to give Republicans a pep talk and urge them to pass the budget.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the budget by just three votes. But the resolution looks doomed in the closely divided Senate where a handful of moderate Republicans have said they will vote against it.
Failure to get the Senate's approval would be a major headache for Republicans ahead of the November elections. It would make it harder to make permanent some of the tax cuts at the heart of Bush's economic plan and it would force an embarrassing debate on raising the limit on the nation's debt for the third time in three years.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, told reporters he hoped the Senate would vote on the budget after a week-long recess starting on Friday.
SHORTFALL AT HEART OF DEBATE
Lawmakers negotiating the details of the budget have had to tread a fine line between the Senate and conservative Republicans in the House.
Conservatives, with the backing of the White House, want to make sure Republican tax-cutting credentials are on full display ahead of November's presidential and congressional elections.
Senate moderates are concerned about the growing budget shortfall, which is expected to top $400 billion this year. They want to make sure any new tax cuts or extensions of tax cuts are paid for with savings from other areas of the budget.
"We have to pay for our tax cuts," said Sen. Lincoln Chafee, a moderate Rhode Island Republican who has said he will not vote for the budget.
Democrats say the conservative-moderate split over the budget underscores the Republicans' inability to get crucial business done even when they control the White House and Congress.
"Republicans' infighting and refusal to abandon their right-wing agenda have stalled the 2005 budget, which is key to reining in out-of-control deficits," said House of Representatives Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland.
"Republicans have made it clear that 'doing nothing' is their campaign strategy," he added.
Democrats are also unhappy with the budget, which assumes military spending for Iraq and Afghanistan of $50 billion next year on top of $166 billion already allocated. They blame Bush's tax cuts for turning his inherited surplus into deficit.
In addition, they point to recent comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that the deficit is a threat to economic stability and the future of Social Security payments.
Reuters...
[This message was edited by wilheim on May 20, 2004 at 09:37 PM.]
The decision came just hours after President Bush visited Congress to give Republicans a pep talk and urge them to pass the budget.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the budget by just three votes. But the resolution looks doomed in the closely divided Senate where a handful of moderate Republicans have said they will vote against it.
Failure to get the Senate's approval would be a major headache for Republicans ahead of the November elections. It would make it harder to make permanent some of the tax cuts at the heart of Bush's economic plan and it would force an embarrassing debate on raising the limit on the nation's debt for the third time in three years.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, told reporters he hoped the Senate would vote on the budget after a week-long recess starting on Friday.
SHORTFALL AT HEART OF DEBATE
Lawmakers negotiating the details of the budget have had to tread a fine line between the Senate and conservative Republicans in the House.
Conservatives, with the backing of the White House, want to make sure Republican tax-cutting credentials are on full display ahead of November's presidential and congressional elections.
Senate moderates are concerned about the growing budget shortfall, which is expected to top $400 billion this year. They want to make sure any new tax cuts or extensions of tax cuts are paid for with savings from other areas of the budget.
"We have to pay for our tax cuts," said Sen. Lincoln Chafee, a moderate Rhode Island Republican who has said he will not vote for the budget.
Democrats say the conservative-moderate split over the budget underscores the Republicans' inability to get crucial business done even when they control the White House and Congress.
"Republicans' infighting and refusal to abandon their right-wing agenda have stalled the 2005 budget, which is key to reining in out-of-control deficits," said House of Representatives Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland.
"Republicans have made it clear that 'doing nothing' is their campaign strategy," he added.
Democrats are also unhappy with the budget, which assumes military spending for Iraq and Afghanistan of $50 billion next year on top of $166 billion already allocated. They blame Bush's tax cuts for turning his inherited surplus into deficit.
In addition, they point to recent comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that the deficit is a threat to economic stability and the future of Social Security payments.
Reuters...
[This message was edited by wilheim on May 20, 2004 at 09:37 PM.]
