GOP conservatives, moderates set budget principles

Members of the conservative House Republican Study Committee and the moderate Tuesday Group have agreed on a set of 12 "consensus principles to reduce spending" that were distributed to lawmakers at Wednesday's Republican Conference meeting.

Rep. Sue Myrick of North Carolina, who heads the RSC, and Rep. Michael Castle of Delaware, a Tuesday Group co-chairman, planned to unveil the proposal Wednesday afternoon. It could serve as a basis for future legislation to impose budget controls.

House GOP leaders and Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, have said they would consider moving legislation overhauling the budget process this year, although House appropriators are opposed to attaching it to the fiscal 2005 budget resolution. A House GOP aide said the leadership was looking at the joint proposal, but was not ready to endorse it.

The centerpiece of the proposed budget change would require the president's signature on the annual joint budget resolution to give it the force of law. Any spending in excess of the spending caps set by that resolution would then be designated as "uncontrolled debt" by the Office of Management and Budget, triggering across-the-board reductions in spending for all programs except Social Security and Medicare.

The Bush administration proposed a similar plan as part of its FY05 budget. The conservative/moderate plan leaves out administration proposals to impose biennial budgeting, a line-item veto and an automatic continuing resolution to prevent a government shutdown if appropriations bills are not completed by the end of the fiscal year.

The plan would narrow budget functions to four categories as opposed to 20; create a "rainy day" day account for emergency spending requests; replace baseline budgeting, which accounts for inflation, with straight comparisons of current-year spending with last year's levels; allow points of order under pay/go rules against spending not included in the budget; limit advance appropriations and impose program sunsets; establish a bipartisan commission to recommend elimination of wasteful or duplicative spending; grant the president authority to rescind wasteful spending, subject to congressional approval; require the federal government to account for its full share of pension costs, retiree pay and health benefits; separate intragovernmental debt from debt owed to the public, and protect budget points of order from House rules allowing waivers.