Budget Battle Brewing

President Bush, who suffered his first major congressional setback last week when the Senate trimmed his tax program, could be in for an even rougher battle over his spending plans.

Democrats predict many Republicans will end up deserting the president rather than vote for some of the sharp cuts the president is proposing in popular government programs.

"This may be the first budget in history that wasn't just dead on arrival — it was dead before arrival," Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said after Mr. Bush had sent his five-volume set of budget documents to Congress.

Daschle and other Democrats noted that the Senate, in passing its budget resolution last week, trimmed Mr. Bush's signature tax package from $1.6 trillion down to $1.2 trillion while adding billions of dollars in spending above Mr. Bush's recommendations.

Mr. Bush's spending plan for the 2002 budget year that begins Oct. 1 proposes spending $1.96 trillion, a 5.6 percent increase over projected spending of $1.86 trillion this year.

It contains increases for defense, education and health research. In terms of budget authority for basic government programs, covering everything from paperclips to nuclear submarines, Mr. Bush is proposing a 4 percent increase, to $660.6 billion. That does not count mandatory programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

The Senate last week voted for nearly an 8 percent increase in discretionary programs, close to the 8.6 percent increase in these programs in the current budget year.

To achieve his spending restraint, the president targeted dozens of federal programs for budget cuts, including proposals to slash funds for urban police patrols, energy conservation, pediatrician training and tax credits for distressed areas.

He said his administration was also going after thousands of programs that had been inserted by members of Congrss to benefit their districts.

"This budget funds our needs without the fat," Mr. Bush declared.

However Democrats found little to like in the Bush budget, reports CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer, and some noted that the Senate already had repudiated part of the president's tax plan by trimming it back to $1.2 trillion.

Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, the senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee, cited "bewildering, curious cuts in this budget" and said he doubted Mr. Bush could win even GOP support for some of the cuts.

And House Democratic Whip David Bonior of Michigan said, "Aside from a huge tax cut for his rich friends, this budget doesn't allow nearly enough money for priorities like education, health care, clean water or a safe environment."

Approval of a budget resolution will be taken up after Congress returns from a two-week recess. After that, both chambers will focus on the specific spending bills Congress will have to pass to implement the new budget.

Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said in an interview that the administration should understand that the votes last week in which the Senate added more spending and trimmed the tax cut reflected strong opposition to the president's program.

"There needs to be a recognition by the administration that his budget is not going to get through the Senate because his priorities are not the priorities of the country," Conrad said.

However, Mitchell Daniels, the president's budget director, declared the Bush budget "alive and well," and said the administration would continue work to push up the Senate tax cut figure and lower its spending demands.

The administration, in releasing the budget on Monday, relied on the economic assumptions it has used in February to project a total surplus over the next 10 years of $5.64 trillion.

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