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Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Sens. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., were pursuing similar plans that would require 60 Senate votes to approve tax cuts that are not paid for with other savings. The restriction would also apply to increased spending for benefits like Medicare.

It was unclear if the two sides would support each other's efforts, and the fate of the drive was uncertain. It was coming in the early phases of a presidential and congressional election campaign that has colored everything that happens in Congress.

The work, and the intense opposition it drew from the White House and Senate GOP leaders, illustrated the political potency that record federal deficits have gained as they approach an expected $500 billion for this year.

"I'm hoping to find a way the two of us can agree," Feingold said.

The move came as the Senate debated a Republican-written $2.36 trillion budget. It underlined the stakes for a president who has made the permanent extension of tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 the focus of his election-year remedy for the economy.

In a letter to congressional leaders, White House budget chief Joshua Bolten said extending the tax cuts would mean "American families and workers are not hit with tax increases that slow economic growth and job creation."

Sixty votes can be hard to get in the 100-member chamber, especially with the GOP in control with just 51 seats. Related but weaker constraints already are in effect.

"We've got deficits, and we have to begin to grapple with that," said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, a moderate considering supporting the move to make it harder to cut taxes. "That's for everybody, the executive branch and legislative branch."

Feingold's plan would take effect immediately. It would cover three popular tax cuts that Congress is expected to approve this year, cuts he said he favored enacting, and others with less support, such as eliminating the estate tax in 2009, a year early.

Domenici was shopping a proposal that would start next year, not affecting this year's tax cuts. Both lawmakers are respected for deficit-reduction efforts over the years, particularly Domenici, a former longtime budget committee chairman.

Support also came from some conservatives, who say controlling deficits would make it easier to afford future tax cuts. They also liked proposed spending constraints.

The GOP budget would extend tax reductions set to expire next year. They include the recent expansion of the bottom 10 percent income-tax bracket to cover more people, the easing of taxes on married couples, and the $1,000-a-child tax credit that would drop to $700 without action.

Those are so popular that they are expected to be renewed, whether or not 60 votes are required.

Most tax cuts that Bush wants extended will expire later this decade, mostly after 2010. He has proposed extending tax cuts worth $1.1 trillion over the next decade, $1 trillion of which expire after 2009.

By a mostly party-line, 51-46 tally, senators rejected a provision by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., throwing the same 60-vote procedural hurdle in front of any new tax cuts or increases in benefit programs.

The requirement would have been waived if the government stops using cash collected by Social Security's trust funds for other programs. That probably won't happen for years because of today's enormous federal deficits.

By law, the trust fund's huge surpluses are invested in Treasury bills. The cash has been used routinely for other programs for many years.

Republicans rallied against Conrad's plan, bristling at his juxtaposition of calls by Bush and the GOP for more tax cuts with the shaky, long-term solvency of the huge pension program. Conrad said today's mammoth deficits made the restrictions necessary.

The Senate also rejected a Democrat attempt to reduce the budget's $144 billion in five-year tax cuts by $5.4 billion to be used for veterans' health care and deficit reduction.

© 2004 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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