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Who Wants a Budget?

Because any resolution to emerge from conference would be worse for the administration than was the Rose Garden, the White House had no strategic interest in passing a budget resolution. The president cared little about the process. Stockman had been accustomed to use the budget resolution as a benchmark in his bargaining with Hatfield about appropriations bills; but because Hatfield had (however grudgingly) signed on to the Rose Garden, Stockman already had a benchmark.

Many Senate Republicans preferred no budget resolution to one that gave in on defense—that is, any compromise that Reagan and Tower did not accept. Baker and Domenici believed a budget compromise on defense would only lower the baseline for the later fight in appropriations, ensuring spending below the Rose Garden level but not guaranteeing the budget figure.[57] True. "We couldn't pass a conference report on the First Resolution," an aide adds, "until the administration backed down because if we made a defense agreement the White House could accuse us of breaking the Rose Garden agreement."

Democrats wanted a budget resolution for all the reasons Republicans did not. House Democrats had one further motive: the House always produced its debt-ceiling extension as part of the budget conference agreement; lacking that agreement, the House would have to vote directly on a debt ceiling, something it never liked to do. By the time the Senate finally passed its budget, however, the debt deadline had been reached. House leaders grudgingly brought the debt ceiling to the floor on May 22, offering a $30 billion extension that would expire on June 22, so as to keep pressure on the Senate to agree to a budget resolution.

House leaders hoped the short-term, small debt increase would discourage the usual posturing. A majority of Republicans opposed the increase, many Democrats bailed out, and the bill failed 262 to 150. Two days later, when Treasury threatened that social security checks might not go out—and because members wanted to go home for Memorial Day recess—the House passed the same increase 211 to 198. Only 69 Republicans backed it. The Senate next passed the $30 billion increase


401

but removed the expiration date. Senate leaders wanted no extra pressure to force action. For the moment, House leaders conceded.[58]


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