House Conservatives Prepare Austere Alternative Budget - New York Times

House Conservatives Prepare Austere Alternative Budget - New York Times:

"Conservatives contend that voters are disillusioned with Republicans over spending and that without a bold statement, the party faces potential losses in November. But some moderate Republicans are anxious about additional spending reductions, particularly after Congress enacted nearly $40 billion in cuts last year after a difficult fight.

The new budget proposal is certain to be assailed by Democrats who accuse Republicans of forging ahead with tax cuts that benefit the affluent and add to the deficit while reducing support for those most in need.

'This president will have piled up more debt than all of the presidents preceding him,' Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota, the senior Democrat on the Budget Committee, said Monday as he joined other Democrats in accusing Republicans of shortchanging domestic security."