Democrats Bracing for Attacks by Critics of Clinton’s Proposals : Congress: Lawmakers, expecting outrage from interest groups, see ‘shared sacrifice’ as a hard sell. Keeping stimulus package intact is a major concern.

As President Clinton prepared to unveil his economic plan, Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill were shoring up their defenses Tuesday against the effects of an expected onslaught of critics and outraged interest groups on the rank and file in Congress.

On the eve of what could be the most critical speech of Clinton’s presidency, it was already clear that a message of “shared sacrifice” will be a hard sell for many members.

Everyone agrees that the package cannot survive unless it remains essentially intact. Yet House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) conceded that lawmakers will be unable to resist modifying Clinton’s program and said that he hopes Congress at least “can maintain the spirit of the package.”

One Democratic aide was blunter: “The more details I hear, the more difficulty I have imagining that we can get people to do this. . . . We have a potential for bleeding on both sides.”

Few of the Democrats pushing hard for major cuts in the deficit are likely to be satisfied with Clinton’s proposal; on the other hand, Democrats who had seen his election as their first opportunity in 12 years to rejuvenate social programs will find little to like in the relatively modest spending package that Clinton hopes will prod the recovery along.

Still, Democrats know that their own political fortunes are tied to Clinton’s and, for many, tonight marks their first opportunity to truly participate in the shaping of a national economic strategy.

“Everybody seems excited about that. It’s the first time that many of us have ever seen a Democratic President in the well” of the House chamber, where Clinton will deliver his speech, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) noted. “He has a great chance of having (his program) received with an open mind.”

History is also weighing on the minds of Republicans, who have served notice that Democrats can expect to carry their President’s economic agenda alone. “We’re not going to give a free ride to people who have been sitting in there chopping Ronald Reagan and George Bush to pieces,” said Sen. Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican.

Some were even ready to write off the President’s plan before he presents it. “I thought we were going to see some new proposals,” Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said. “But this is the same baked-over stuff we’ve seen for 20 years: raise taxes, raise spending and cut defense.”

Holding their fire, at least for the moment, are the lobbyists for a host of powerful interest groups that will be hard hit by Clinton’s proposed spending cuts and tax increases.

Elderly groups, for example, already have succeeded in popping an early trial balloon, the idea of delaying cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients. Now, the issue for them will be weighing the benefits of the package against expected proposals that include higher taxation of Social Security benefits, cuts in Medicare and new energy taxes that will raise the cost of virtually everything.

“We’re going to tune in like everybody else with our notepads at hand,” said Marty Corry, director of federal affairs for the American Assn. of Retired Persons. “You have to begin with a premise that, in any serious deficit-reduction package, no one is going to be happy. The question is going to be what you see when you look at the whole package.”

But veteran GOP lobbyist Tom Korologos suggested that, in practice, few politicians or interest groups will take such a broad view: “I don’t think it goes as a package. . . . In the end, everybody up here (on Capitol Hill) is going to vote his constituents.”

Complicating the issue for some is the fact that Clinton is simultaneously proposing deficit reduction and spending.

“The idea of a stimulus package is good. I don’t think the theory connects with the practice,” Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) said. “It’s difficult to sell cuts and enact cuts when we’re enacting spending on the other side.”

He predicted, moreover, that the stimulus package could become a target for many lawmakers’ pet projects as it works its way through congressional committees. “By the time the sausage goes all the way through the grinder, it’s going to look substantially different,” he warned.

The Democrats’ best hope for holding Clinton’s package intact, they said, is the sense they are getting that the public finally feels a true urgency about the state of the economy.

Rep. Bob Wise (D-W. Va.) knows that his constituents will feel the brunt of some of Clinton’s proposals.

The coal industry, though decimated, is still one of his state’s largest employers and it could be hard hit by new energy taxes; West Virginia’s population also is older than most, so cuts in elderly programs will inflict greater pain than in other states.

Yet Wise said that his conversations with voters in his district have convinced him that they are ready to bear their share of sacrifice, if they can be convinced that Clinton’s plan will cure the deficit.

“People understand this ox is in the ditch in a way I’ve never heard before,” Wise said. “They understand that we’ll all have to be in there pushing it out.”

Times staff writers William J. Eaton and Michael Ross contributed to this story.

TV Coverage

President Clinton addresses a joint session of Congress at 6 p.m. PST tonight on CBS (2)(8), NBC (4)(36)(39), ABC (7)(3)(10)(42), KCET (28), KMEX (34, Spanish), KVEA (52, Spanish); Cable--CNN, C-SPAN, CNBC.

A Republican response will follow Clinton’s address.

Replays: C-SPAN will replay the speech at 8:30 p.m.; FOX (11) (6) at 11:30 p.m.