Dole Urged by 24 GOP Senators to Improve Panel’s Budget Plan

A group of 24 Senate Republicans asked Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) Thursday to develop “a more acceptable alternative” to the fiscal 1987 budget approved last week by the Senate Budget Committee.

The criticism, made in a letter signed by almost half of the Senate’s 53-member GOP majority, could indicate that the spending plan will face much difficulty when it reaches the floor after Congress’ Easter recess. The package already has drawn fire from the White House.

However, Budget Committee Chairman Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) has said that the panel’s proposal, or a similar version, is the only plan that stands a chance of obtaining Senate approval.

Sen. Dan Quayle (R-Ind.), a Budget Committee member who had voted against the proposal, led the largely conservative group of senators who signed the letter.

Their criticisms centered on the package’s defense figure, which is $25 billion lower than the Administration had requested, and its $18.7 billion in new revenues--most of which are in the form of new taxes.

“The Senate Budget Committee’s proposal, as a starting point for negotiations with the House, guarantees an unacceptable result for both defense spending and new revenues” because the House will push for lower military spending and higher taxes, the letter said.