House conservatives following a loyal line on budget

With a president of their own party in the White House, House conservatives find themselves playing a different and lower profile role in the fiscal 2002 budget debate than in recent years, acting far more like party loyalists than the loyal, conservative opposition.

Although they are pushing for an even larger tax cut of $2.2 trillion over 10 years than President Bush's $1.6 trillion tax package, conservatives are essentially embracing the president's fiscal 2002 budget blueprint, with its 4 percent increase over current discretionary spending levels.

Already, they can expect Budget Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, to include in his chairman's mark at Wednesday's markup provisions similar to language they fought to get into last year's budget resolution enforcing budget discipline and reserving for additional tax cuts or debt reduction any mid-year increase surplus projections.

But on one of their most cherished initiatives from last year --requiring the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to coordinate their so-called 302(b) subcommittee spending allocations--conservatives appear willing to let go. Language calling for the two chambers' appropriators to work together in allocating the total fiscal 2002 discretionary spending figure among their 13 subcommittees is not expected to be in Nussle's proposal.

A House conservative source said conservatives have not decided whether to offer such an amendment at the markup. The source acknowledged that with President Bush in office, they can expect him to back stop their efforts to rein in spending, with a veto if necessary. If everyone can stick to the president's number, he said, "then that eliminates a lot of the problems" with out-of-control spending conservatives are trying to address with the joint 302(b) provision. If such language were to be offered and adopted in committee, however, an Appropriations Committee spokesman said the panel "would actively oppose the budget resolution" on the floor.

Although the Budget and Appropriations committees are more often adversaries than allies, so far this year they appear to be on the same page, despite appropriators' willingness to tangle with budget-writers over 302(b) sub-allcoations. Nussle has already said he plans to use the president's fiscal 2002 spending number of $661 billion--a figure that Appropriations Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., has said he can live with.

Last week, Young told CongressDaily: "I'm comfortable with the president's number. This number is $60 billion more than the House-passed bills last year. An extra $60 billion makes our job in the House easier." But Young added, "I can't guarantee what happens when we get into conference."

Alluding to his committee's jurisdiction over how the $661 billion is allocated, Young also said "what we will do is rearrange some funding within that number." But should appropriators produce fiscal 2002 spending bills that depart substantially, and more expensively, from the president's spending blueprint, the source said conservatives "would consider offering substitute appropriations bills" of their own on the floor.