Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- April 3, 1998
TOP POLITICAL STORY
3 Senate Democrats join GOP in approving budget deal
By John Godfrey
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Senate Republican leaders won back the support of tax-cut hawks Thursday, clearing the way for a 57-41 vote to pass a $1.73 trillion budget resolution that has been under debate for a week.
"That makes me feel very good," Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete V. Domenici, New Mexico Republican, said after the vote. "We started out with a strategy that we thought was best for the country, and for us to pick up three Democratic votes, that's very positive."
The plan follows the budget agreement reached last year, except for an increase for highway spending paid for with cuts to various entitlement programs.
Five Republican senators had threatened to vote against the budget because it contained only $30 billion in tax cuts. Their votes, combined with a unified Democratic caucus, could have defeated the measure.
"I am seriously disenchanted with a budget that really failed to provide any relief for the American taxpayer," said Sen. John Ashcroft, Missouri Republican, who led the revolt.
Sen. Rod Grams, Minnesota Republican, complained that the tax cut of 1997 was "too little, too late" and it behooved his party this year to meet the "tax-cut promise that elected us and sent us to the Senate."
Democratic Sens. Max Cleland of Georgia, Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York and Charles S. Robb of Virginia voted with the Republicans.
The Republican holdouts reached an agreement with GOP leaders Thursday morning. Under that deal, budget negotiators will seek to increase the size of tax cuts during House-Senate budget negotiations; make the marriage tax penalty their first priority; include Mr. Grams in their talks; and try to protect tax-cutting legislation from filibuster.
Republican Sens. Robert C. Smith of New Hampshire, James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma and Sam Brownback of Kansas joined Mr. Ashcroft and Mr. Grams in the revolt.
House GOP leaders are said to be considering tax cuts of about $60 billion over five years.
Mr. Ashcroft and Mr. Inhofe said that if the final budget resolution did not include tax cuts at least as large as $60 billion, they would vote against it.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, Mississippi Republican, said the rebellion was not a threat to his authority. "These guys are my base. They are my allies."
Asked before the deal how he was bringing the group into line, Mr. Lott said he was asking them, "Do you think you have a better chance of getting all this done supporting me or opposing me? The answer is obvious."
After the agreement, Mr. Inhofe said, "There is no fight here. He agreed with us."
The Senate voted 59-40 to express its support of a plan offered by Republican Sen. Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas and Mr. Brownback to repeal the federal income tax code after 2001. It was not clear how much support the proposal really has, because the "sense of the Senate" resolution was tied to a similar resolution backing passage of legislation to reform the Internal Revenue Service.
The Senate also voted 52-46 to defeat an amendment to restore veterans' disability payments at the expense of highway funding.
Under a recent ruling by the Department of Veterans Affairs, a veteran who smoked during his service and falls ill from a tobacco-related illness after returning to civilian life qualifies for service-related disability compensation.
The administration has proposed overturning that ruling to save $10.5 billion over the next five years. The budget resolution assumes Congress will adopt that change and use the money to pay for increased highway funding.
"This is a blatant attempt to take money away from veterans," said Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, West Virginia Democrat. He would have cut highway funding by $10.5 billion and allowed the money to be restored to veterans. The House voted Wednesday to approve a resolution expressing the sentiment that money from veterans programs should not fund highway spending increases.
Mr. Domenici countered that Congress never intended to extend disability benefits to people who smoked in the service but continued to do so after leaving.
Mr. Domenici successfully suggested reversing the Veterans Affairs ruling and claiming the savings from doing so, but holding a yearlong study to "to make sure we have the best information about what is the right and fair and honorable thing to do."Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
To subscribe to the Washington Times National Weekly Edition, click this icon or call 800-363-9118.
