Pete's Big Hit

By Jacob V. Lamar Jr.

In the rarefied world of U.S. Senators, Pete Domenici, a third-term New Mexico Republican, is about as homespun as they come. While many of his smooth, well-tailored colleagues are chauffeured to the Capitol, the rumpled Domenici, 53, can sometimes be spotted commuting on Washington's metro, a loose tie draped from his neck, his furrowed brow giving him a look of perpetual worry befitting a hardworking father of eight.

As chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Domenici has had the thankless task of trying to work out a compromise on the fiscal-1987 budget that might satisfy lawmakers and the President while meeting the $144 billion deficit ceiling set by the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings law. It was enough to drive the Senator, a reformed chain smoker, back to bumming cigarettes from the Capitol doorkeepers. Near the end of a week of feverish bargaining, Domenici stepped out of a conference with Majority Leader Bob Dole and was asked, "What do you think?" He replied, "I think this is a crazy place and I've got a terrible job."

But there was sweet satisfaction for the long-suffering Domenici last week when the Senate voted 70 to 25 to pass a budget resolution he was instrumental in hammering out. While the plan was less austere than the one Domenici produced with the Budget Committee's ranking Democrat, Lawton Chiles of Florida, it is far more balanced than the President's proposal. The Senate plan calls for increasing military spending to $301 billion--$19 billion less than Reagan requested--while raising revenues (through new taxes or fees) of $13.2 billion, more than twice what the President wants.

The budget eliminates a handful of small federal programs, rather than wiping out 44 projects, as wanted by the White House. To save some $3 billion, the Senate assumed a lower inflation rate over the next year, thus reducing cost of living adjustments for Social Security and Medicare to 2%. Exulted Domenici last week: "This is the best budget vote we've had."

Though Dole supported the resolution, he was not as pleased. He had held several meetings with Budget Director James Miller and top Senate Republicans to work out a package closer to Reagan's request. He conducted transpacific negotiations with Chief of Staff Donald Regan, who was traveling with the President in the Far East. At one point Dole waved a document he identified as a House budget proposal (it was actually a month-old working paper outlining one option). Declaring that the proposal recommended no major revenue increases, Dole called it a "smoking gun" because it proved that House Democrats were secretly planning to blame the Republican-controlled Senate for unpopular tax hikes.

Flying to Tokyo aboard Air Force One, Presidential Spokesman Larry Speakes criticized the budget for not meeting Reagan's requested levels but gave it a lukewarm endorsement nonetheless. He said the President "believes it is important that the Senate passes a budget for 1987 and recognizes their effort."

This week the House Budget Committee will begin wrestling in earnest with its own resolution. After helping bang out a budget that reflected more common sense than political ideology, Pete Domenici proudly declared that the Senate plan "sends a signal to the House that something close to this is what we ought to do."

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