Conservatives trying to sell balanced budget to GOP leaders, worry spending boosts will alienate voters

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Posted 8:07AM on Tuesday, January 29, 2002

WASHINGTON - House conservatives want congressional Republicans to write a balanced budget this year, fearing that a round of big spending boosts will alienate voters the party needs this November. Rep. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., and other conservatives plan to take their case to their colleagues this week at a retreat for GOP lawmakers at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia. So far, they are meeting with skepticism from Democrats and some pivotal members of their own party, making their effort seem like a long shot. "It's a good idea, but it may not be feasible," said moderate Rep. Jim Greenwood, R-Pa. Greenwood said the costs of fighting the recession and terrorism "make it pretty hard to get to balance without getting pretty draconian elsewhere." "I don't want to dismiss" the proposal, said House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, who will be a chief author of the House GOP's budget. "But achieving that is going to be very difficult." Bush is to unveil his $2.1 trillion budget for 2003 next week. In it, he will propose letting most federal programs grow by roughly 9 percent, excluding automatic benefits like Medicare, say congressional aides. That includes huge increases he wants for defense and homeland security, with the rest growing by just 2 percent. "We're with the president on defense and homeland security," Toomey said Monday. "We think we can save money in other areas." Bush's budget will also project a $106 billion deficit for this year and an $80 billion shortfall for fiscal 2003, which begins Oct. 1. The last budget deficit was in 1997. Toomey and others say it's too late to stop this year's red ink, but that they want the budget to be in balance next year. Congress' budget has nonbinding numbers lawmakers use as a guide for subsequent spending bills. The conservative effort comes just over nine months before elections in which control of the House and Senate are at stake. Some Republicans say Republicans must retain their image as the party of fiscal conservatism or risk turning off conservative and many independent voters. "Politically, it's essential that Republicans not allow Democrats to get to their right on fiscal responsibility," said Stephen Moore, a budget analyst for the conservative-leaning Cato Institute. Yet Moore and others said a balanced budget would be hard to write because of the election-year popularity of Bush's proposed spending increases, plus likely bipartisan efforts for boosts for agriculture, education and other programs. Not included in the conservatives' calculations of a balanced budget is next year's $75 billion price tag for the economic stimulus package Bush will propose. Most members of both parties consider it politically impossible to balance next year's budget if that amount of savings is needed. Toomey says he supports the stimulus proposal but believes it will probably be blocked by the Senate's majority Democrats. Democrats consider the package a tax giveaway to corporations and the well-to-do, preferring a smaller package more focused on help for the unemployed. The conservatives say they might as well take advantage of that and craft a balanced budget that voices support for the stimulus measure, but does not factor in its costs. That drew criticism from Democrats. "You say you're balancing the budget, but it's not balanced and that's supposed to mean something?" said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D. "That just takes falsity to a whole new level." Conrad said the budget his panel will write is unlikely to show a balance next year because it will probably include much of the increases Bush wants for defense and domestic security. House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, championed the balanced budget idea at a meeting House GOP leaders had last Friday with White House budget chief Mitchell Daniels in St. Michael's, Md., say people familiar with the session. A balanced congressional budget would help keep subsequent spending bills from getting too costly and further annoying many voters, he argued. Last week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected a $14 billion deficit for next year. But that excludes enactment of any new programs, including the stimulus measure or any spending increases for defense or homeland security. Spending for programs besides automatically paid benefits grew by 11 percent last year, and 9 percent the year before.