As the schedule for a House budget markup slipped further, Senate Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said Tuesday he will make provisional allocations for his subcommittees this week and begin markups next week.
Also Tuesday, House Budget Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio, said he remains committed to a plan that would cut spending by more than $100 billion over five years--a proposal that Senate Budget Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said cannot be achieved. And, signaling a change in his own position, Domenici said he now would be willing to use some funds from tobacco legislation to pay for a tax cut. The Senate's FY99 budget resolution would only allow tobacco funds to be spent on Medicare.
While Republican sources had perviously said Kasich hoped to mark up his plan this week, the chairman said he hopes to take the plan to his committee next week, although that schedule could again slip.
Kasich said House Republican leaders who support his plan now must decide how much the Republican Conference will accept. "The leadership's got to make some decisions," he said, following a meeting of the House-Senate GOP leadership. "I cannot tell you how all of these issues are going to get resolved. We're going to have a lot of meetings this week."
Asked about moderate House Republicans who said his plan puts them at political risk, Kasich said some of the concerns of the group have been addressed, but added that Republicans stand for smaller government. Asked about the moderates' concerns, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said, "We will not be insensitive to that, but we believe good policy makes good politics."
Kasich said his plan would still cut more than $100 billion - down from $154 billion. "I've now arrived at a package that I think is fair and reasonable and should be supported," he said. But, Domenici said: "How you can do $100 billion? I don't know."
Clear divisions also remain among GOP leaders over how a tax cut should be funded. Kasich has said the surplus should be used for debt reduction and shoring up Social Security. Asked about the assertion of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., that part of the budget surplus should be used to cut taxes, Kasich said that discussion is continuing.
Domenici said he is "seriously concerned" that using a surplus for tax cuts would harm efforts to use part of the surplus to help Social Security. He said he now is willing to use a part of any tobacco settlement for tax cuts, saying, "I don't have any alternatives."
Armey said any discussions over how to fund the tax cuts amount to "technical questions" that will be resolved. He said, however, that there is a "big, broad-based consensus" that any tax cut should include improvements to the marriage penalty.
NEXT STORY: Park Service wants higher fees made permanent