While House Democrats returning Tuesday from a two-day retreat tried to present a united front, the moderate-to-conservative members of The Coalition, known popularly as the Blue Dogs, said they are increasingly likely to once again develop their own budget plan.
"The odds are increasing" that The Coalition will present a Democratic alternative to President Clinton's plan, Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Texas, a key member of the group, said after returning from the Democratic retreat. Stenholm said that while a final decision has not been made, many members of the group feel the kind of proposals contained in the group's budgets during the past few years will be "helpful" to the budget debate this year.
Another key member of the group, Rep. David Minge, D- Minn., echoed those sentiments, saying that "a number of the initiatives we've had in other budgets" would be useful this year, particularly The Coalition's plan to try to convince Congress to adjust the Consumer Price Index to more accurately reflect inflation.
The Coalition's tentative plan signals a change in attitude from a few weeks ago, when an aide said The Coalition was less likely to offer a comprehensive budget proposal this year.
The change in direction follows a meeting among members of the group last week; those meetings are expected to continue this week. Members now feel "there [is] room to differentiate themselves" from the president, the aide said. Members were not happy with the amount of new spending in the president's budget that depended on "questionable" funding sources, the aide added. He also said that Coalition members would like to be "bolder on entitlement reform" than the Clinton budget is. In addition, members of the group again are exploring efforts to make the CPI a more accurate reflection of increasing consumer prices.
And some members of the group also are thinking about "upping the ante" on a larger surplus by including fewer spending initiatives in the budget, the aide said.
Producing a larger surplus accompanied by less new spending would amount to a "stronger way to counter the effort to spend the surplus" on a tax cut, the aide said.
Members of the group are very concerned about efforts by House Budget Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio, and others to change budget rules to allow a surplus to be used for tax cuts.
The aide said members of The Coalition have discussed common budget issues with members of the New Democrat Coalition, another group of moderate Democrats, as well as with moderate Republicans.
The budget discussion follows a letter several members of The Coalition sent to Clinton last week "whole heartedly" endorsing his effort to focus any surplus on Social Security.
"The benefits of using the budget surplus to reduce the debt and prepare for Social Security reform vastly outweigh the potential benefits of any tax cut or new spending initiative," the members said in the letter.
"Your budget demonstrates that it is possible to be fiscally responsible while addressing high priority needs and preserving programs that invest in our future," they told Clinton.
While moderate Democrats are raising some concerns about the spending blueprint, House Budget ranking member John Spratt, D- S.C., late last week sent Democratic colleagues a letter saying the Clinton budget is one that "Democrats can warmly embrace."
However, he also raised a concern similar to one raised by The Coalition.
"Nearly two-thirds of the initiatives ... are funded with tobacco revenues which the president assumes the government will collect over the next five years if Congress enacts national tobacco legislation," Spratt wrote.
He added, "If Congress does not enact tobacco legislation generating $65.5 billion in new revenues, many of the president's initiatives are in doubt unless we can find other ways to pay for them."
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