Although he said he does not know if the spending blueprint being prepared by House Budget Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio, would pass on the floor today, Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said he is confident it eventually will pass the House.
"We fully expect to pass the Kasich budget," Armey told reporters Tuesday.
The House Budget Committee is scheduled to mark up its plan Wednesday. It currently contains about $100 billion in spending cuts, although Kasich has dropped an extensive list of illustrative cuts from the plan.
"It will stand in stark contrast to the president's budget," Armey said, adding that he expects the proposal to be discussed at another House leadership meeting today. "It's a good mark," he said. "It's time to move forward." GOP leaders are prepared to offer Kasich as much help as possible in gaining the votes needed to pass the proposal, Armey said.
Meanwhile, a key House Republican said the Kasich budget is likely to allow House appropriators to mark up their fiscal 1999 spending bills at the spending caps called for in the balanced budget deal--implying that many of the Kasich cuts may not take place until later years. Armey said he believes Kasich and Appropriations Chairman Bob Livingston, R-La., have arrived at outlay levels that may ease appropriators' attempts to pass their funding measures.
In addition, spending for Bosnia and other special military missions may be designated as emergency spending, the Republican source said. Finally, the House may try to solve spending outlay problems that exist in defense spending by directing the Congressional Budget Office to accept Office of Management and Budget scoring on defense, Armey said.
As they head into Wednesday's budget markup, House Budget Committee Democrats are expected to offer a series of amendments that would add several Clinton administration initiatives to the budget document, a House Democratic aide said. The aide added that no decision has been made about whether Democrats will offer a comprehensive substitute budget when the resolution goes to the floor after the Memorial Day recess.
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