Quayle

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, October 18) -- As Congress prepares to meet Tuesday to give an expected final approval to the newly minted budget deal with the White House, Republican leaders who agreed to the measure are hearing the sound of discontented thunder from the right.

Former Vice President Dan Quayle said Sunday that "there are a lot of things" that conservative Republicans don't like about the budget blueprint.

"We don't like the fact that there are not tax cuts. We think that the spending has gone up way too much," he said on ABC's "This Week" program. "If I was there (in Congress), I'd probably be inclined to vote against it."

"There are a lot of Republicans in this town -- and more importantly outside the Beltway -- that are very disappointed that tax cuts were not a part of this budget agreement," he said.

With the first budget surplus in nearly 30 years, House Republicans had pushed for an $80 billion tax cut. But even with a president mired in an impeachment investigation and a Republican majority in both houses, the GOP's tax plan went nowhere, though the budget deal does contain $9.2 billion in tax credits and benefits, mostly for farmers and the self-employed.

The media spin has largely been that President Bill Clinton got the best of the GOP Congress in the budget fight because Republicans were loathe to be blamed for a government shutdown. It is a victory all the more surprising given Clinton's current political difficulties.

"A friend of mine said the other day, 'I'm not so sure that we can afford to have Bill Clinton any weaker than he is,'" quipped Quayle.

But House Majority Leader Dick Armey took issue Sunday with the notion that Republicans got rolled by the White House in the budget showdown.

"It's a good deal for Republicans, and we kept the bill within the budget caps of last year," he said on "Fox News Sunday." "The president came forward (and) said we want more money for teachers. We said fine, let's pay for them, and we did."

"And then on top of that, we said, let's send the money to the local communities. This was a big win for federalism," he said.

As for tax cuts, Armey said, "These things don't always happen ... when we want them."

Speaking on NBC's "Meet The Press," Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson conceded that a budget deal without tax cuts "has fomented frustration within our ranks."

"We have not cut taxes enough, and I agree with some of those comments," he said. "But the reason that we haven't cut taxes is because this president has said, 'I won't let you cut taxes.'"

Sunday, October 18, 1998

• Documents in Paula Jones suit to be released Monday
• Pollsters recall lessons of 'Dewey Defeats Truman' fiasco
• GOP leaders hearing thunder from the right over budget deal
• Reno renews plea for hate crimes bill in wake of Wyoming murder

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