Budget Battles Take Toll on Lawmakers

The government is teetering on the brink of insolvency. The White House is refusing to give any ground. Federal agencies are preparing to shut down. And through it all, Capitol Hill seems determined to make a mockery of textbook descriptions of how the legislative process is supposed to work.

Welcome to the Barnum & Bailey Congress: Bleary-eyed Republicans, struggling to keep the government afloat while they wage bigger budget battles, spend their days staggering from one closed-door meeting to the next. Democrats spend theirs sitting on the sidelines, denied such legislative niceties as being invited to open committee meetings. Wacky amendments seemingly come from nowhere to hitch a ride on must-pass legislation. And it all has an “Alice in Wonderland” quality because most everything before Congress is destined for a presidential veto.

It’s a frayed-edged, undisciplined process that marks a big change in the political atmospherics of the Capitol. For months, Republicans have seemed firmly in control of the course of Congress. But now no one seems to know how it will all come out, even as they struggle to pass stopgap legislation to keep the government operating when current funding runs out at midnight Monday and from going into default when the federal debt ceiling is breached a few days later.

The grueling process is taking its toll on GOP team spirit, with relations between House and Senate Republicans taut as a high-wire. Asked what kind of amendments the House might attach to a big money bill, one House GOP leadership aide retorted: “How about one to abolish the Senate? That would solve all our problems.”

*

On Thursday, House Budget Committee Chairman John R. Kasich (R-Ohio) tried to shrug off those differences, even as he dashed off to do battle against a Senate plan to scale back tax credits for the working poor. “It’s no different than two buddies going for a rebound,” Kasich said. “Even in inter-squad games, you’ve got to throw some elbows.”

Kasich is maintaining a frantic pace that is a tribute to the tricky juggling act the Republicans are attempting. In the course of this one mind-numbing week, the GOP is trying to pass a stopgap appropriations bill to keep the government operating after Nov. 13 and an increase in the government’s authority to borrow. At the same time, Republicans are trying to resolve scores of differences between the House and Senate versions of the gargantuan budget bill that includes GOP plans to scale back the growth of Medicare and Medicaid, cut taxes and make other far-reaching changes to balance the budget in seven years.

Kasich is in the middle of a lot of that--and it shows. His life outside Congress has evaporated. He counts on eating only one meal a day. He hasn’t been back to his office for two days because he has been shuttling around the cold marble hallways of the Capitol from one chandeliered meeting room to another.

*

Every time he or House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) or Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) emerges from a budget conclave, they are swamped by a huge, information-hungry pack of reporters who gravitate to GOP leaders like so many iron filings to a magnet. Democrats walk by unnoticed because all the key decisions are being made by the GOP. Writing off any hope of winning support from Democrats, Republicans are just talking to each other to draft budget bills they can pass on their own.

So what do Democrats do all day while they sit on margins of power? “We spend a lot of time in silent prayer for the President’s courage when he sits down with Dole and Gingrich to negotiate,” offered Rep. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.).

Highlighting their own irrelevance, Democrats held a press conference Wednesday featuring bloodhounds. They are needed, Democrats said, to help track down Republicans who are making all the decisions on the budget.

Being locked up in all those closed-door meetings has been no picnic for Republicans. They’ve had to hash out intraparty differences on tax cuts, student loans, farm subsidies and other popular programs affected by the budget reconciliation bill.

But differences between House and Senate Republicans became most pointed when they moved bills to lift the debt limit and to provide stopgap appropriations for the government. GOP leaders in the House festooned those bills with controversial amendments--to abolish the Commerce Department and to limit lobbying by nonprofit organizations--that were opposed by many Senate Republicans.

Dole and Gingrich glossed over those differences when, for the umpteenth time in as many days of budget talks, the GOP leaders stepped up to a bouquet of microphones stationed outside one of their meetings. Instead they pointed down Pennsylvania Avenue and attacked President Clinton for threatening to shut down the government.

“He’s been AWOL for too long,” Dole said. “If the government shuts down, his fingerprints are going to be all over it.”

The whole process is also taking a toll on the reporters who have spent day and night swarming the labyrinthine halls and passageways of the Capitol. “This place is like a casino,” said Jackie Calmes, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. “You can’t tell whether its day or night.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Q&A; on the Debt Limit

As Congress and the White House engage in a high-stakes budget duel over raising the debt limit, here are questions and answers related to the issue:

Q: What is the national debt?

A: Add up the annual deficits--the shortfall between what the nation takes in and what it spends--and you have the debt.

Q: What is the debt limit?

A: The debt limit is the maximum the government is allowed to borrow. It is now set at $4.9 trillion and, like a credit card limit, is raised from time to time. Almost all borrowing is subject to this limit, but a few small accounts are exempt.

Q: When will the government reach the debt limit?

A: Like a charge card limit, there is no set time for reaching the borrowing limit, but the government is very close to reaching it. Treasury Department officials calculate the amount of debt every day, trying to establish the moment they will reach it.

Q: What is a temporary debt limit?

A: When the debt limit is near, Congress will sometimes raise it for a short period of time, after which it snaps back to a lower amount. In the past, Congress has always approved a new debt limit before the temporary increase expired.

Q: What happens if the government reaches the debt limit?

A: Theoretically it would default, but this has never happened and there is intense debate about its consequences. Some experts say the possibility is remote and the government would first take such extreme measures as terminating payments on Social Security, selling its gold stocks and directly spending trust fund surpluses. These steps may be illegal but are considered less serious than default.

Q: So why does it matter if the government defaults?

A: Anyone who fails to pay bills pays higher interest rates to borrow in the future. The President’s Council of Economic Advisers says higher interest rates cost hundreds of billions of dollars, more than canceling out savings from a balanced budget. Republicans say that is not true.

Sources: Reuters, Times staff