Bush Budget Heads for Battle in Divided Senate
W A S H I N G T O N, March 30 -- Reform trumped cynicism in the Senate this week, and the chamber is now poised to pass the most significant overhaul of campaign financing since 1974. Yet while Democrats and Republicans collaborated openly on the floor in recent days, behind closed doors they braced for next week's bitter partisan battle.
A nonbinding spending plan, which won't become law or resemble the budget Congress passes this fall, is up for debate next week and the political stakes could not be higher. The symbolic vote on a budget resolution not only provides a blueprint for how much the federal government will spend but represents Round One in the fight over President Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut in the Senate.
"I think it's as much of a big test for Democrats as it is for Bush. The budget resolution — which implies that, though it doesn't guarantee — that he gets his tax cut, is a big deal," said Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. "I think it matters, in that sense, politically. Because once someone breaks and votes for it we have a harder time getting them back on the reservation."
Biden added, "I can't think of any vote that I have cast in 28 years that has greater implications for the future of things I care about."
Split Decision
So far just one Democrat in the 50-50 Senate, Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, has said he will join with the GOP. But his defection is cancelled out by Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, who opposes Bush's tax cut and says he would vote with Democrats. Should current vote count estimates hold, the budget will prompt the first tie-breaking vote from Vice President Dick Cheney since he and Bush took office. Negotiations are under way all over Capitol Hill, as leaders from both parties scramble for votes, and President Bush continues telephoning Democrats he hopes to pick off.
"There's enormous pressure on people," said Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee. "People are being offered deals. They not playing patty cake, this is fast ball."
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