WASHINGTON – Republican leaders in Congress are hoping to complete a bill to curb the growth of student loans, Medicaid and other benefit programs before Christmas, though they may delay extending tax cuts until next year.
Staff aides and lobbyists are skeptical about the prospects of finishing work in the next few weeks on five-year spending cuts of up to $50 billion.
But failure to deliver would disappoint GOP loyalists eager to see their party burnish its budget-cutting credentials, and would push the contentious issue into January or February, muddying the agenda for 2006.
The House returns for a scheduled two-week session on Tuesday; senators do not come back until next week.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., say they are “deeply committed to restraining spending” and hope to finish the cuts before Christmas.
The chances for completing an accompanying tax cut bill is more doubtful.
The centerpiece is the budget cut bill, the first attempt in eight years to check the growth of Medicaid and other benefit programs. Their costs rise automatically each year to reflect inflation and population growth, unless Congress reduces them.
The House and Senate have approved separate budget bills that take divergent approaches:
* The House would trim spending by $50 billion over five years, compared with nearly $35 billion in the Senate’s version.
* The Senate would put those savings into initiatives such as college aid and maintaining physician reimbursements under Medicare. The House measure contains far less spending.
* The Senate voted to go ahead with drilling for oil in a wildlife refuge in Alaska. GOP leaders in the House were forced to scuttle that idea to get the budget measure approved.
As negotiations continue between the House and Senate on the spending cuts, House GOP leaders will press ahead to garner support to preserve the tax cuts won by President Bush that are set to expire unless lawmakers extend them.
The GOP tax bill would extend the reduced tax rates for capital gains and dividends. A companion Senate plan that passed with bipartisan support does not included those provisions; it would provide relief for middle-class wage earners from the alternative minimum tax.
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