Democrats to Focus on Own Tax Cut Plan : Congress: House leaders gear up for a fight against what they sense is a weakened President. Foley also promises a major health care bill.

Girding for a fight and sensing a weakened opponent, House Democratic leaders said Friday they will put aside President Bush’s economic package to rush through their own middle-income tax cut and recovery plan well ahead of Bush’s March 20 deadline.

The strategy and air of urgency were conveyed by Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) and hislieutenants after a two-day meeting in southern Maryland with newly militant rank-and-file Democrats.

Foley promised that Congress also would send the President a major health care bill this year that would be far more comprehensive than the chief executive wants.

“We’re going to stand tall,” the Speaker said at a news conference. “We are going to take positions with a great deal of unity and determination. We’re going to move very quickly in coming weeks.”

The result could be an election-year standoff on major legislation if Bush can use his veto power and hold enough Republican votes to prevent Democrats from getting the two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate required to override the White House.

On that score, Vice President Dan Quayle took a similarly combative stance in a meeting with reporters in Washington, saying of the Democrats in Congress: “They want to go into a conflict mode, that’s fine.”

Quayle indicated the Bush Administration did not want the same kind of prolonged negotiations with congressional leaders that it took to secure the 1990 budget agreement.

“I would just advise Congress that they better get their act together, and get it together in a hurry,” the vice president said.

At their Piney Point retreat, Democrats appeared to agree on fast-track treatment for both tax and health care legislation in the House and to move it forward even if Bush vetoes it and--as in the past three years--makes his vetoes stick.

To accomplish their goal, however, the Democrats will have to reconcile their own internal differences and unite behind proposals for tax cuts and expanded health care that can win the most votes in the party caucus.

While the Democrats still differ on whether to focus their middle-income tax cut on families with children or to provide a tax break for all workers, they were solidly united on how to pay for it--by raising taxes on upper-income Americans.

The President has threatened to veto any tax increase, however, and Quayle reinforced that position by telling reporters: “The marker is laid down and it’s March 20. They’ve got a choice--either play or be confronted.”

Bush’s dramatic slide in the opinion polls in recent months and the lingering hard times have combined to give Democrats a feeling that they have a chance to retake the presidency for the first time in 15 years.

“There’s a very good momentum (among House Democrats),” said Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.). “There’s one reason--we have a shot at the White House this year.”

For his part, Foley insisted that his party was not seeking political advantage in rebuffing the President’s approach to economic recovery.

“If the President chooses to engage in confrontation politics, that’s his decision,” the Speaker said.

With the President campaigning for reelection with the Democrat-controlled Congress as one of his chief targets, confrontation again appeared likely to exceed cooperation as the lawmakers return to work. Bush’s State of the Union address and his new budget, spelling out his anti-recession program, have run into heavy criticism from key Democrats on grounds that his plans would provide too little help and unfairly benefit the rich.

The same theme emerged Friday when Richard G. Darman, director of the Office of Management and Budget, went before the Senate Budget Committee to defend the President’s economic recovery plan.

Sen. Jim Sasser (D-Tenn.) termed the Bush plan “merely the illusion of a program to get the economy growing,” while Darman insisted it would create jobs by reducing taxes on capital gains, the profits from the sale of assets such as stocks or real estate.

Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said his panel would skip the one-week recess from Feb. 10-17 to begin work on a tax package. Similarly, Rep. Leon E. Panetta (D-Carmel Valley) said members of the House Budget Committee that he chairs would work through the recess on a spending blueprint for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.

“If we’re going to have any impact at all, we’ll have to act fast,” said Rep. Vic Fazio (D-West Sacramento). “This is not because of the President’s deadline but because of the urgent national need.”

Times staff writers Douglas Jehl and James Bornemeier contributed to this story.

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