What’s next in Congress? An answer may not come until the end of March. That’s when congressional Republicans are planning to convene in Philadelphia to consider their policy agenda. The goal of the Philadelphia conference, says a House leadership aide, is” to “remind people why they voted for Republicans.”
There’s one fight many top Republicans think should be avoided: trying once again to win passage of a balanced budget in seven years using Congressional Budget Office numbers. Republicans fear getting bogged down in negotiations with the White House and then getting blamed again for the likely failure to reach agreement. The preferred strategy of many top Republicans, including chief appropriators Rep. Bob Livingston and Sen. Ted Stevens, is simply to wrap the remaining appropriations bills into a continuing resolution that would last through the end of 1996 and to forget about the entitlement reforms needed to get to a balanced budget.
Republicans will then devote themselves to blaming the White House for its veto of a balanced budget and using this as an argument for electing a GOP president.
There’s debate over this: Newt rich prefers a strategy of repeated 30-day continuing resolutions in order to keep the pressure on President Clinton, and House Budget Committee chairman John Kasich remains convinced a deal can be struck between Republicans and moderate Democrats. Wishful thinking, say some congressional aides, who predict the Livingston/Stevens strategy will prevail. All in all, it looks like the great defining issues of the day — balanced budget, tax cuts, etc. — will have to wait until the election.
Jay Nordlinger
