Senior Blue Dog doubts House will take up budget

A senior Blue Dog Democrat doubts the House would take up a budget resolution this year.

When asked whether House Democrats would forego a budget resolution, Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.) said, "I think that's where it's heading."

Hill, the Blue Dog Coalition's co-chairman for policy, said Tuesday that the major sticking point for his group of fiscally conservative Democrats is discretionary spending levels.

The Blue Dogs have been in talks with House leaders over their proposal for a 2-percent cut in non-security discretionary spending for each of the next three years, and a freeze for the two years after that. Blue Dogs and other centrist members have blanched at the idea of passing a budget with deficits that would surpass $1 trillion in 2011 and remain near that level in future years.

Hill, in a brief interview with The Hill, said he wanted to pass a budget document. He added that groups in the House Democratic Caucus left of the Blue Dogs have concerns aside from low spending levels.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) also said Tuesday that the chance of a budget resolution this year is "fading," though he and House leaders have also said they're hopeful a budget could be passed.

The budget resolution sets discretionary spending levels for the next year and lays out the majority's fiscal policies for several years. The budget also serves as the first necessary step in the reconciliation process that's used to push contentious legislation through the Senate with a simple majority instead of 60 votes.

Instead of a budget resolution, Democrats could turn to a deeming resolution that sets spending levels for the next year but lacks the other budget features, Hill and Conrad said Tuesday.

Hill said the spending cuts in a deeming resolution could be deeper than they would be in a traditional budget resolution.