68 in House Seek to Rewrite Budget Resolution

Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles), leading 68 House Democrats who are dissatisfied with the deficit reduction achieved in the budget resolution adopted by Congress, embarked Wednesday on an uphill effort to persuade the House to start over again on the budget.

In the weekly closed House Democratic caucus, Beilenson argued for a non-binding resolution that would direct the House Budget Committee to come up with a new spending plan yielding a balanced budget by 1988.

In contrast, the budget package that Congress adopted last month before adjourning for its summer recess would leave a deficit of well over $100 billion three years from now, even after paring down a deficit currently projected at more than $200 billion annually.

“The deficit has become so serious that we can no longer wait for the President to propose steps that are necessary to get the budget under control. The public wants the budget crisis solved; the Democrats in the House should lead the drive to do it,” Beilenson argued in a letter to Democrats that was signed by 68 congressmen.

House Budget Committee Chairman William H. Gray III (D-Pa.) noted that public sentiment is behind balancing the budget. But he added: “I’m not sure in a practical sense that we can get a second budget resolution this year.”

One of the biggest forces working against Beilenson is time: It took seven months of wrangling by the White House, Senate and House to produce the first resolution, and Congress is expected to adjourn in less than three months.