House GOP leaders pull plug on budget plan

House Republican leaders pulled the plug on the fiscal 2007 budget resolution Thursday, likely dooming its chances for the year although they pledged to give it another try after the Easter recess.

House conservatives and appropriators remained apart on proposed earmark restrictions, which are not even in the budget but part of a separate lobbying overhaul package. Appropriators also chafed at the budget's proposed limitation on emergency disaster spending, another conservative demand. "We're not there yet on reform," said Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.

April 15 is the statutory deadline for a House-Senate budget conference agreement, which will be missed with the budget shelved likely until at least May.

Earlier this week, Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said if the budget didn't come up this week, it probably would not come up at all.

Republican leaders had already been preparing for the possibility of not being able to reach final agreement with the Senate, even if they could pass a budget in the House.

Immediately after the announcement, the blame game commenced. "The appropriators deep-sixed it," said Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. "They're taking their toys and going home."

Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said his group was prepared to support the budget after discussions with Hastert and other leaders, after receiving commitments on new rules cracking down on earmarks and non-defense emergency spending.

But that was too much for Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., who marshaled his troops to oppose the budget if leaders made such concessions.

He said he has already acted to reduce earmarks by $3 billion and eliminated 53 federal programs. "It's unfortunate that the whims of a few would prevent the overwhelming majority of our members from once again enjoying similar budgetary success," Lewis said in a statement.

Scrapping the budget is a major blow for Boehner, who came to the job determined to avoid the intra-party budget dustups that had marked previous years.

He tried early in the process to bring both moderate and conservative camps into the fold, meeting with both sides repeatedly.

In a statement, Boehner blamed the budget's failure on Democrats for refusing "to consider a fiscally responsible approach rejecting the failed policies of more taxes and more spending."

But Boehner's diligence resulted in delays, and the Senate approved a budget resolution $16 billion larger than the president's $873 billion discretionary spending cap before the House Budget panel unveiled its version.

That fueled moderates' desire for more spending, while conservatives saw the Senate action as making their case for more spending controls.

In the end, Boehner and his team could not go far enough in any one direction without pushing away another faction. While taking time to assuage moderates and conservatives over the last several weeks, he might have waited too long to bring Lewis -- the key to both sides' demands -- into the fold.

Things came to a head between appropriators and conservatives at a meeting in Boehner's office Thursday, which ended with no resolution and both sides dug in.

Conservatives wanted to challenge individual earmarks in conference reports, akin to a rules change in the Senate lobbying overhaul package.

That is facing opposition from appropriators, concerned about creating a "ping-pong" game between the House and Senate and delaying must-pass spending bills.

They also wanted to force votes on non-defense emergency spending above a $4.3 billion threshold, low by historical standards, another non-starter with Lewis.

Equally galling to Lewis was that to go over that cap, he would have to get permission from the House Budget Committee, with which appropriators have always had strained ties.

Conservatives also complained about concessions Lewis was preparing to make to moderates on spending. Moderates wanted Lewis to agree to shift $7 billion from defense, homeland security and foreign aid to accommodate commensurate increases for domestic programs like education and health care.

But Lewis was unwilling to part with more than $3 billion or so from defense, and while some reductions in foreign aid are also likely, it was not enough to get moderates on board.

"Having the right budget is more important than having a budget," said Rep. Michael Castle, R-Del., a leader of the moderate Tuesday Group.

A spokesman said that Boehner would continue to work with all sides to try to negotiate a compromise after the Easter break.

Susan Davis contributed to this report.