Key Democrats in House Back New Deficit Cuts

In a move to speed congressional passage of President Clinton’s economic program, influential House Democrats agreed Monday to an additional $63 billion in deficit reduction measures beyond those recommended by the White House.

The savings, largely in the form of more cuts in government spending, are intended to shrink the deficit below $200 billion by 1997 in response to strong pressure from conservative Democrats.

House Budget Committee Chairman Martin Olav Sabo (D-Minn.) announced the $63-billion total, which would include some higher fees for government services, and said it was endorsed unanimously at an evening caucus of Democratic members.

Hours earlier, however, Clinton told Democratic members of the committee in a White House meeting that he would agree to $50 billion to $55 billion in additional spending reductions “and no more,” a senior White House official said.

The lawmakers identified only a few specific cuts that they intend to propose. They include capping outlays for discretionary programs at the present level for the next five years, Sabo said. In addition, cost-of-living increases for retired federal workers, civilian and military, would be reduced below the rate of inflation.

Anti-poverty programs and Medicare would be spared from cuts. Also, some of Clinton’s recommended “investments” in education, health care and technology are expected to be trimmed slightly.

The House and Senate are not expected to consider specific cuts this week. Instead, budget resolutions are to be bare-bones documents, establishing non-binding guidelines or ceilings on spending and a floor for revenues.

The senior White House official said Administration strategists hope to keep the budget resolutions as non-specific as possible to provide more flexibility later, when actual line-by-line spending decisions are made by congressional appropriations committees. “We want to make sure it doesn’t all come out of (Clinton’s) investments,” the official said.

Rep. Charles W. Stenholm (D-Tex.), who had pressed for even greater deficit cuts, said he would support the proposed budget resolution in committee and on the House floor next week.

“The blame game in Washington is over,” Stenholm said. “Democrats are going to get the credit or blame for whatever’s happening here.”

Rep. Timothy J. Penny (D-Minn.), a leader of the Democratic “budget hawks,” said that the larger spending cuts are a step in the right direction but that they do not go as far as he would like to go. As a result, Penny said, he and other conservatives in the majority party will try to eliminate or cut back Clinton’s $30-billion stimulus program to achieve a bigger reduction in the deficit, saying: “That’s a new battleground.”

The tentative accord among Democrats on Sabo’s committee signaled that the House next week is likely to accept the modified version of Clinton’s plan, avoiding a confrontation over deficit-cutting policy between the party’s leadership and conservatives within its ranks.

There was some grumbling, nevertheless. “The liberals feel they are going the extra mile,” said a Democratic leadership aide. “The (deficit) hawks are not going to be happy,” another staff official said.

In the Senate, Democrats were caucusing to try to achieve similar results, seeking to come up with additional deficit-reducing measures, including some increases in user fees, to keep Clinton’s program on a fast track.

Sen. Jim Sasser (D-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said his panel would cut $3.8 billion more than Clinton’s program in fiscal 1994 and $11 billion or $12 billion more in the following fiscal year.

“There’s a sense by the majority in Congress that they ought to give the President a chance,” Sasser told reporters.

House Republicans, however, prepared an alternative budget that would slash federal outlays by far greater amounts, cutting almost 10 times as much as Democrats propose to do. But the GOP lawmakers conceded that they do not have the votes to pass their plan.

“We believe that higher taxes, more domestic spending and unreasonably high defense cuts are not the prescription needed to control spiraling federal deficits,” said Rep. John R. Kasich (R-Ohio), who is the ranking GOP member of the budget panel.

Kasich’s proposal, to be presented to the House Republican conference for approval today, would reduce the deficit by $35 billion in fiscal 1994 and would terminate, reduce or reform 160 federal programs, he said. It would provide budget savings of more than $425 billion in the next five years, Kasich said.

White House strategists said that they hope Congress can pass a budget resolution--a fiscal road map for achieving actual spending cuts and tax increases later this year--before a scheduled Easter recess starts April 2.

Once that initial approval is given, Democratic congressional leaders hope for quick follow-up approval of the President’s stimulus package for the current fiscal year, but that package could run into stiff opposition.

After congressional committees make final decisions on spending levels and changes in tax laws, the House and Senate are expected to vote again on a giant bill to “reconcile” the various parts of Clinton’s program, probably before lawmakers depart for their August recess.

The aim is to present members of the House and Senate with up-or-down votes on the President’s package without allowing opponents a chance to pick it apart or force separate votes on the most unpopular provisions.

Budget resolutions to be reported this week in the House and Senate, however, are going to be bare-bones documents without specifics on how the savings would be achieved. Rather, they would establish non-binding guidelines or ceilings on spending and a floor for revenues to be raised by appropriations and tax-writing committees in both houses.

Times staff writers David Lauter and James Risen contributed to this story.