By
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush's budget suffered a double-barreled setback yesterday as the Senate voted tentatively to siphon $450 billion from the administration's $1.6 trillion tax cut and a pivotal Republican senator said he was inclined to oppose the plan as drafted.
The vote was 53-47 to take money out of the tax cut and devote it to education and debt repayment. Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle called the outcome "a repudiation of the president's policies and priorities."
Earlier, Sen. James Jeffords, R-Vt., made it clear he is leaning against a vote in favor of the overall budget. "Unless a miracle occurs, I fear I'm bending in that direction," he told reporters.
He said he would continue talking with White House officials and Senate GOP leaders, and he did not rule out ultimately voting for a Republican-written budget that would allow up to $1.6 trillion in tax cuts. But he said that, so far, his demands for added education funds for the mentally and physically handicapped had not been met.
The vote on the Senate floor came on a proposal by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who said he wanted to redirect $225 billion to federal education programs and another $225 billion to debt repayment.
Majority Leader Trent Lott switched his vote to favor the amendment after it appeared to be headed for passage over the objections of most Republicans. Under the Senate's rules, that entitles him to call for a revote, and he immediately served notice he would do that at some point.
Daschle told reporters that the two developments combined - Jeffords' comments and the vote on the floor - "say with an exclamation point that the president must negotiate with us."
Democrats have proposed a far smaller tax cut than the White House wants. They argue his proposal is so large it would crowd out needed funding in programs such as education and health care, and they also criticize it as tilted to benefit the rich.
Republicans have been trying to gain 50 votes behind the budget, thereby allowing Vice President Dick Cheney to cast the tie-breaking vote that would allow it to pass. Two senators have defected, one Democrat, Zell Miller of Georgia, who supports the president's budget, and Rhode Island Republican Lincoln Chafee, who opposes it.
Jeffords' threat increases the pressure on the White House to allow more of the school money he wants, or to finally agree to negotiate on the tax cut's size. Bush has repeatedly said his $1.6 trillion figure is "just right," and has stuck by it ever since unveiling it during his battle for the GOP presidential nomination in December 1999.
Jeffords spoke at a news conference with a group of moderate Democratic senators led by Sen. John Breaux, D-La., and Chafee. There, they embraced an alternative $1.25 trillion tax cut, which is between Bush's proposal and a $750 billion package supported by Democratic leaders.
But White House officials said they would not give up on ultimately winning Jeffords over, calling the current situation "the normal legislative process."
As the Senate continued the budget debate, it voted yeseterday by a mostly party-line 51-49 for an amendment by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. It would increase farm spending by $64 billion over the next 10 years by taking the money from projected federal surpluses.
The vote was crucial because Grassley's amendment was designed to head off a Democratic alternative that would have boosted farm spending by $88 billion, with the money coming from Bush's tax cut.
Grassley's amendment was approved only after GOP leaders got three Republicans who initially voted against it to change their votes: Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl of Arizona, and George Voinovich of Ohio. The three senators had all expressed concern that spending being added to the budget was getting too expensive.
To do so, Republicans kept the roll call going for 50 minutes, 35 minutes longer than scheduled.
"The objective here is to prevent the Democratic leadership from shrinking President Bush's tax cuts," Kyl said after the vote.
The Democratic amendment, sponsored by Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., was then defeated by a near party-line 53-47. Had it succeeded, it would have been the first victory by Democrats in their effort to whittle down Bush's tax package.
Farmers have been hit by low crop prices and losses from droughts in recent years.
Congress' budget, which does not need the president's signature, sets overall spending and tax targets. Later bills enact actual changes in taxes and spending and fill in the details.
Even so, both sides want the budget to reflect their priorities - and to signal that important constituencies will be well treated. Farmers have reached that level in recent years, having won $25 billion in special aid over the last three years from Congress.
But they were only one of several groups Democrats were seeking to shower with money they hope to carve from Bush's tax reduction, the centerpiece of his economic plan. Waiting in the wings was Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who was proposing to shift $250 billion from Bush's tax cut to education.
In the first such battle Tuesday, Republicans used Cheney's first tie-breaking vote to help defeat a Democratic effort to divert money from Bush's tax cut to a new prescription drug program.
