Panel Vote Draws Battle Lines for Pay-as-You-Go Tax Cuts
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.

WASHINGTON, March 17 — Setting up a potential showdown with the Senate, Republicans on the House Budget Committee rejected legislation on Wednesday that could have imperiled the extension of the tax cuts that are a centerpiece of President Bush's economic program.

The committee, in a 24-to-18 party-line vote, turned down a Democratic amendment that would have blocked future tax cuts unless they were paid for with money from spending cuts or increases in other taxes.

In a nod to conservative members of the panel concerned about what they call runaway spending, the committee voted to adopt new rules forcing lawmakers who want to increase spending for entitlement programs like Medicare to find other spending cuts of the same amount. It also voted to institute tough five-year caps on spending for discretionary programs, which essentially cover everything outside of Social Security and other entitlement programs. One outside liberal group, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said the caps would lead to the lowest level of spending on domestic discretionary programs, as a percentage of the economy, since 1963.

A handful of moderate Republicans signaled Wednesday that they might break with their party leaders on whether to make it tougher to enact tax cuts. But assuming the full House goes along with the committee, the vote on Wednesday sets up a clash with the Senate about the future of Mr. Bush's tax cuts.