Conservatives put pressure on GOP to balance budget

WASHINGTON -- House conservatives looking ahead to the November elections are trying to persuade Republican congressional leaders to produce a balanced budget, but are so far being met with skepticism.

The campaign comes as President Bush prepares to submit a $2.1 trillion budget to Congress next week that projects an $80 billion deficit for next year. The last budget to propose an annual deficit was submitted in February 1997 by President Clinton.

Popular proposals

The conservative effort also comes just over nine months before elections in which control of the House and Senate are at stake. Some Republicans say they worry that another round of big spending increases -- mostly for defense and homeland security -- will turn off conservative and many independent voters.

"There's a lot of political appeal to supporting a balanced budget," said Rep. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., a leader of the effort to produce a balanced budget for fiscal 2003, which starts Oct. 1. "A lot of members ran on that basis and have based their credibility on an ability to deliver a balanced budget."

House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, championed the idea at a meeting House GOP leaders had Friday with White House budget chief Mitchell Daniels in St. Michael's, Md. A balanced congressional budget -- a nonbinding blueprint that lawmakers use -- would help keep subsequent spending bills from getting too costly and further annoying voters.

Even so, many other House Republicans doubt that enough savings can be found to succeed. That's due to the popularity of Bush's proposed spending increases and likely bipartisan efforts for campaign-season boosts for agriculture, education and other programs.

"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. "But in this political climate, where even some Republicans have become big spenders, it's difficult" to balance the budget.

"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.

Not included in the conservatives' calculations is next year's $75 billion price tag for the economic stimulus package Bush will include in his budget. Most members of both parties consider it politically impossible to balance next year's budget if that amount of savings is needed.

A new level of 'falsity'

Toomey and other Republicans say they support the stimulus proposal but believe 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."