Congress, White House dig heels in

Rep. David R. Obey (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, recently invited White House budget director Jim Nussle over to the Capitol to talk about how to avert what could become the biggest budget showdown in years.

“We went out on our balcony and had a drink and talked for a while,” Obey said. But the White House was in no mood to compromise, according to Obey, who said the budget director told him, “As I go around the White House, I don’t find anybody in any quarters interested in any kind of a compromise at all.”

On Tuesday, the Democratic-controlled House showed its determination to stand its ground as well, voting overwhelmingly to override Bush’s veto of a $23-billion water projects bill and approving a $215-billion spending bill that the president has threatened to veto.

The standoffs between Congress and the White House over spending and other issues are heightening partisan tensions in the Capitol and causing legislative gridlock. And it is bound to get worse as next year’s campaign season approaches and both parties work to define their differences rather than seek compromises.

More than a month after the beginning of the new fiscal year, not one of the 12 annual spending bills has been signed into law. Not since 1995, when the budget disputes were so bitter they prompted a partial government shutdown, have Congress and the president appeared so far apart on spending priorities.

The government is operating on a stop-gap spending measure that expires Nov. 16, though it is likely to be extended through Dec. 14.

The budget battle was on display Tuesday as the House approved a spending bill by a 269-142 vote that combined two bills, one that has Democratic-sought increases for health, education and job-training programs, and another that funds popular veterans programs.

The White House budget office repeated its threat to veto the combined measure, which calls for about $10 billion more in spending than the president favors. A statement said the bill included “an irresponsible and excessive level of spending” and called the Democrats’ decision to package a controversial bill with a popular bill a “cynical” ploy to win passage of spending increases.

The two-bill package faces trouble in the Senate, where Republicans are expected to successfully separate the bill funding the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Education from the one funding veterans programs and military construction projects.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) defended the increased spending for health and education programs, noting that it amounted to “one month’s spending in Iraq.”

The bill includes $2.4 billion, $630 million more than Bush requested, for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps poor households pay air-conditioning and heating bills and avoid utility cutoffs for nonpayment; $1.2 million for state grants for vocational education, $606 million more than the president wants; and $30 billion for medical research at the National Institutes of Health, about $1.4 billion more than the president’s request.

Obey, in a speech at the National Press Club this week, said, “It is not reasonable for the president to demand that we give him another $200 billion for the quagmire of Iraq and then try to reclaim the mantle of fiscal responsibility by requiring shortsighted reductions in key domestic investments that will make our country stronger.” On Tuesday, he said that the White House’s unwillingness to negotiate was setting up a “needless confrontation.”

A spokesman for the White House budget office declined to comment on conversations between the White House budget director and members of Congress. But spokesman Sean Kevelighan said that with the “Democratic majority’s strategy changing by the hour, it’s hard to speculate or negotiate on bills until they are actually sent to the president.”

Republicans accuse Democrats of seeking to score political points by advancing a spending bill that Bush has threatened to veto. “I can’t figure out how anyone thinks that holding the veterans funding, which we all support, hostage to a bill that is going to be vetoed is good public policy,” said Rep. James T. Walsh (R-N.Y.).

Democrats, writing their first appropriations since winning control of the House and Senate in last year’s elections, say they are seeking to restore funding for programs that Bush has sought to cut or eliminate or were neglected under Republican rule. Bush, who has come under criticism from members of his own party for the growth in spending since he took office, has vowed to take a firmer hand in cracking down on what he regards as excessive spending.

But on Tuesday, 138 Republicans joined 223 Democrats in voting 361-54 to override Bush’s veto of a bill loaded with water projects eagerly sought by members of both parties. All of the no votes were cast by Republicans.

“While I support many of the president’s policies, I respectfully disagree with his veto of this bipartisan measure to improve the nation’s water resources infrastructure and protect the environment,” said Rep. John L. Mica of Florida, the top Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The Senate today is expected to follow suit in the first override of a Bush veto.

The bill authorizes projects, but funds still must be provided through the appropriations process.

Despite partisan wrangling over spending for health and education programs, House-Senate negotiators reached agreement Tuesday on a defense spending bill -- a $459-billion measure that includes $500 million for fire suppression, risk reduction and recovery, a chunk of which is expected to go to rebuild U.S. Forest Service facilities destroyed in last month’s Southern California fires and reduce the risk of future wildfires and mudslides in burned areas.

richard.simon@latimes.com