GOP leaders retreat, postpone budget vote

WASHINGTON -- Republicans retreated Thursday and decided to postpone a Senate vote on their $2.4 trillion budget until at least next month, GOP aides said, averting a certain defeat by party moderates demanding curbs on future tax cuts. The decision, described by aides on condition of anonymity, was an election-year embarrassment for both the Republicans who control Congress and President Bush.

It came just hours after Bush met privately with GOP lawmakers at the Capitol and urged them to push the 2005 budget through the Senate.

The House approved the measure, a compromise between the two Republican-run chambers, on Wednesday by a 216-213 vote.

Some Republicans expressed hope that the chamber would approve the compromise spending plan after Congress' weeklong Memorial Day recess, which begins Friday.

But that could be a tall order: Four moderate GOP senators and moderate Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska have all resisted weeks of entreaties to support the budget, leaving GOP leaders two votes shy of passage.

The moderates, joined by Democrats, are unhappy because the plan lacks tax-cut curbs they say are merited by massive federal deficits. Those restrictions are opposed by Bush and GOP congressional leaders as roadblocks to their agenda of repeated tax cuts.

A stalemate over the issue has persisted for two months. Its continuation has overtaken earlier statements by GOP leaders that they would complete the plan on time -- April 15 -- to show how well they could govern. The 2005 budget year begins Oct. 1.

Still shy of the votes they needed, Senate Republican leaders didn't even begin debate on the budget by early Thursday evening.

"I'm still fishing, I still have my lure in the water" looking for votes, said Budget Committee Chairman Don Nickles, R-Okla.

The budget would increase defense and anti-terror spending and hold 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 work on later measures without a budget, but they would lack its procedural advantages that would make those bills easier to pass.

In his visit with Republicans and a subsequent written statement, Bush tried intensifying the pressure by imploring the narrowly divided Senate to pass the fiscal blueprint. House-Senate bargainers put the final touches on their compromise this week.

The budget "meets our nation's highest priorities of winning the war on terror, protecting the homeland, and helping our economy continue to create new jobs," 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," he said.

Bush's relatively gentle cajoling contrasted with bristly statements this week that House GOP leaders have made about the maverick Senate moderates.

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

Unyielding after weeks of lobbying, they seemed no more willing to reconsider after the barrages by the House leaders.

"What the speaker said was tremendously unhelpful," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is not among the four.

Besides McCain, the other recalcitrant senators were Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both R-Maine, and Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I.

The moderates favor requiring any tax cuts or benefit increases over the next five years that worsen the deficit 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 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.