Top Republicans yesterday warned of an impending budget “train wreck” — fueled by proposed spending and tax increases — as the Democrat-led Congress focuses on the polarizing politics of the Iraq war.
An Oct. 1 budget deadline looms while Congress has not sent any of the 12 annual appropriations bills to President Bush, most of the House-passed bills would face vetoes for busting White House spending limits, and neither chamber has addressed dozens of tax-relief measures set to expire this year.
“This almost certainly means we soon will be looking at an appropriations train wreck right here in the Senate in the next few weeks, followed by a continuing resolution to keep the government running,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid vowed to forge ahead with the appropriations bills and blamed Republicans for the slow pace of legislation during the past nine months.
“For all our success so far this year, we could have done more if not for some Republicans who have sought to block our progress at all costs,” Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat, said on the Senate floor as the chamber reconvened after a monthlong summer recess.
Debate of budget issues and the Iraq war likely will dominate the rest of the term, despite expectations that a White House proposal to reduce the number of troops by spring will undercut Democrats’ argument for a pullout.
The stage was set for a showdown over taxes and spending yesterday when the Senate confirmed Mr. Bush’s pick for budget director, former Rep. Jim Nussle, Iowa Republican, who as chairman of the House Budget Committee was known as a hard-line fiscal conservative.
The nomination was confirmed 69-24 with the nomination supported by 45 Republicans, 23 Democrats and one independent. It was opposed by 23 Democrats and one independent.
Republicans, seeking to re-establish themselves as the party of fiscal responsibility, relish a confrontation with Democrats over spending and taxes this year.
“We are more than happy to have that fight,” said House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican. “Every day we have that fight is going to be better for us than it is for them.”
Mr. Reid said he hoped in the next two weeks to pass three more spending bills but declared that his top priority remained to end the war in Iraq.
“And above all, every day, we must continue to fight for a sensible, responsible path out of Iraq in order to restore America’s national security,” Mr. Reid said, noting military progress reports and Mr. Bush’s war-strategy recommendations due next week.
“We continue to hope that he will use this report as an opportunity to finally do the right thing and begin to change the core U.S. mission and begin reducing U.S. forces,” he said. “We will receive this report with an open mind. We will consider the White House findings carefully and thoughtfully.”
Congress will hear a series of reports on the Iraq war this week in advance of the report by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ryan C. Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
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