Budget dickering season begins

Lawmakers go to Capitol Hill with a long wish list and mixed feelings

North Carolina wants money for students and commuters, its elected officials say. It wants money for patients and for soldiers, for entrepreneurs and for scientists.

The state's representatives in Washington will see whether President Bush agrees about their needs when he presents his proposed federal budget today.

The presentation kicks off budget season on Capitol Hill, with elected representatives fielding all kinds of requests from home and then working the system to get them included in the final spending package.

"It's a bipartisan log-rolling and horse-trading for money," said Chris Edwards, an economist with the Cato Institute in Washington. "It's the main thing that a typical member of Congress does during the year, battle for dollars."

Conventional wisdom says the president presents a budget, then Congress trashes it and writes a new one. But with Republicans controlling Congress, Edwards said Bush's proposals will be significant.

Spending has increased during Bush's five years in office. Congress has largely gone along with many of his spending proposals but hasn't always gone along with his budget trims.

Bush pledged in his State of the Union speech last week that his budget will "reduce or eliminate" more than 140 programs that, he said, are "performing poorly or not fulfilling essential priorities."

He said the reforms would save taxpayers $14 billion next year and help cut the $400 billion deficit in half by 2009.

But Bush also wants Congress to make his tax cuts permanent, a move that would send the deficit rising again after 2011, according to the Washington Post, which cited the Congressional Budget Office.

In his speech, Bush also focused on rebuilding the economy, saying he wants to boost scientific research and job training.

Lawmakers weigh in

Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole said she is especially interested in hearing Bush's plans for military families. She has been pushing for resources to help military retirees and to curb the predatory lending that goes on in military towns.

Sen. Richard Burr, also a Republican, said after the speech that he wants to hear more from the president about using science such as nanotechnology to improve the economy.

In the Triangle, House members -- all Democrats -- are thinking about issues such as job training and education. But they are not optimistic.

"I think the budget will be very short-sighted," said Rep. Brad Miller of Raleigh.

He fears Bush's plan won't include enough money for education, community colleges or scientific research -- all of which would help the state continue its economic transition, he said.

"The economic growth we've had is not finding its way into the pockets of the vast majority of American families," Miller said.

Rep. Bob Etheridge of Lillington wants to see resources to fight bird flu: for bird-owning companies to fend off attacks, and for research to find a cure for the illness.

But Etheridge doesn't think Bush has done enough to fund one of his own school programs, No Child Left Behind. The program greatly expands federal influence in public schools, setting requirements to close achievement gaps among students.

"The ink hadn't even dried [on that law] before he pulled that funding," Etheridge said.

Rep. David Price of Chapel Hill wants to see more money for highways in the Triangle, for cancer research and for after-school programs.

But he also wants to see a more fiscally conservative budget and, like others, criticized Bush's tax cuts.

"The red ink needs to stop," Price said. "The fact is, we can and should do both things. The Republican budget does the worst of both worlds."

Dole defended Bush's spending plans. She said the president will work to reduce health care costs, and she supports his effort to make tax cuts permanent.

"That's a goal that's very worthy," Dole said. The tax cuts on capital gains, dividends and income, she said, are "driving the economy."