Senate Budget Battles Include Drilling, Tax Cuts

WASHINGTON – Senate foes of oil drilling in an Alaskan preserve lost a skirmish yesterday, while tax-cut supporters scored a victory in a sampling of the battles bedeviling Republicans pushing budgets through Congress.The Senate Budget Committee voted 12-10 to bar filibusters against legislation later this year that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to mineral exploration. Filibusters are procedural delays that require the votes of 60 of the 100 senators to halt – a margin drilling supporters would probably find hard to achieve.By 12-10, the panel then rejected an effort by Democrats to require that any new tax cuts be paid for with spending reductions or increased revenue. The amendment, aimed directly at an annual GOP priority, recalled a dispute that derailed Congress’s effort to approve a budget last year and has returned because of persistently huge deficits.The fights raged as the committee approved – in another 12-10 party-line vote – a Republican-written $2.56 trillion budget for next year. The plan claims to reduce gradually deficits over the next five years with smaller tax cuts and smaller spending reductions than President Bush wants.“We should pay” for tax cuts, said Senator Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat who sponsored the tax cut and drilling amendments, “and not just heap the costs on the backs of our children and grandchildren.”Republicans said the best way to keep the budget under control was to restrain federal spending.“And we need to stimulate our economy by holding down the tax burden,” said Senator Allard, a Republican of Colorado.Congress’s budget sets overall spending and tax targets. Specific revenue and expenditure changes are made in later bills.Mr. Bush and his GOP allies in Congress want to extend tax cuts this year on capital gains and corporate dividends and retain other reductions that would otherwise expire.Mr. Bush proposed $100 billion in five-year tax reductions. A budget approved by the House Budget Committee on Wednesday would slightly exceed that figure, while the more moderate Senate held its tax-cut total to $70 billion.The fights over drilling and tax cuts are likely to be fought again when the full Senate considers the budget next week. The House plans to vote on its budget next week, too, and Republicans in both chambers are bracing for other battles.A bipartisan group of 59 House members has written House Budget Committee Chairman James Nussle, an Iowa Republican, protesting his budget’s $5.3 billion in planned five-year agriculture savings. Firefighters will be lobbying in Washington next week against a proposal by Mr. Bush to reduce grants to fire departments.In addition, bitter fights are certain over congressional plans to cut planned spending for Medicaid, the health care system for the poor, and for student loans, veterans programs, and others.Underscoring the political sensitivities involved, the committee approved two nonbinding amendments urging lawmakers to find savings by limiting benefits to the wealthiest farmers and to avoid budget cuts that “undermine” Medicaid. The dispute over drilling in the Alaskan preserve has been waged for years and pits economic and environmental interests against each other.

Senate Budget Battles Include Drilling, Tax Cuts

Senate Budget Battles Include Drilling, Tax Cuts

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