Divided House Passes $2.4-Trillion Budget

WASHINGTON —  The House on Wednesday approved a $2.4-trillion budget for fiscal 2005 that would extend popular tax cuts and increase spending on defense and homeland security.

The bill, which passed narrowly, 216-213, was the result of an agreement between GOP leaders in the House and the Senate.

But the Senate appears to be on the verge of defeating the same measure in a vote scheduled for today. Several Republican senators concerned about the deficit are likely to join most Democrats in rejecting the bill because it does not include a provision requiring Congress to make spending reductions to balance every tax cut and spending increase.

In the House, nine Republicans joined all the Democrats and one independent in opposing the bill. Five House members -- two Democrats and three Republicans -- did not vote. The California delegation all voted and split along party lines.

Even if the Senate rejected the legislation, the House would still use it as a guideline for spending bills it drafted later this year, said Sean Spicer, spokesman for the House Budget Committee.

However, the likely failure of the House and the Senate to agree on a budget framework shows how difficult it has become in an election year for the two chambers to work together, even though Republicans hold majorities in both.

House Republicans said their budget would keep the economy strong and put the nation on a path toward balanced budgets.

“I think our budget can be summed up in one word -- responsible,” said Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.)

But Democrats assailed the bill’s sponsors for failing to tackle the growing deficit.

“Year after year we’re stacking debt on top of debt,” said Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. (D-S.C.).

“We’re digging into our grandchildren’s pockets,” added Rep. Robert C. Scott (D-Va.).

White House officials praised the House vote, even though Congress ignored President Bush’s request to make tax cuts passed in 2001 permanent.

“We’re pleased that Congress is moving forward on a budget framework that meets our priorities and shows spending restraint,” said White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan.

The budget bill reflected an agreement reached Monday between House and Senate Republicans after six weeks of debate. The two chambers quickly agreed on spending amounts but clashed over whether to include a provision to force fiscal discipline by requiring Congress to pay for each tax cut or budget increase with spending reductions.

Such a provision was in effect from 1990 until 2002. The Senate wanted such a provision and the House did not. The agreement adopts it for only a year and allows as much as $28 billion in tax cuts without corresponding spending reductions.

This agreement did not go far enough to appease the Republican senators who have been demanding the provision, including Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island, and Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, according to their press secretaries.

Budget analysts said the House-approved version failed the fiscal discipline test.

“It’s sort of like going on a diet and saying I’m going to exempt everything I eat for lunch and my diet is going to end at midnight,” said Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a budget watchdog group. “That wouldn’t be a credible diet. This isn’t a credible budget resolution.”

Under the budget framework, the deficit was expected to peak in 2004 at $474 billion and drop to $367 billion the following year. Bush took office in 2001 with a budget surplus estimated at $5.6 trillion over 10 years.

The bill would allot $402 billion in fiscal year 2005 for military spending, a 7% increase, plus $50 billion for additional costs for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would provide a 14% increase in homeland security spending, but would freeze spending on discretionary domestic programs at 2004 levels.