Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said he urged President Clinton Thursday to imitate with Bob Dole a scene out of the movie, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
"Like the scene when the two of them join hands and jump off a cliff to escape a posse, I told him he needs to join hands with Dole and jump forward together if we are going to balance the budget," Bennett told the Deseret News.Bennett joined a bipartisan group of 22 Senate moderates who met with Clinton Thursday to discuss their proposals for budget balancing, hoping to revive efforts that collapsed earlier this year. They also plan to meet with Dole next Tuesday.
"We made it clear that we have fought through most of the hard issues, and that the final result has to be something in this general framework (that they presented)," Bennett said.
"Our group was forceful in saying to the president that we are not negotiators. And the president said, `I hope you're not giving me a take-it-or-leave-it proposal,' " he said.
"We said we will be willing to listen to his comments, but that the overall package cannot be picked apart."
Bennett said he cannot guess whether movement will result until after the group's meeting next week with Dole.
The group - 11 Democrats and 11 Republicans who consider themselves moderates on the budget battle - are proposing to balance the budget by 2002 with such things as $154 billion in savings from Medicare, $62 billion from Medicaid and $45 billion to $53 billion from welfare reform.
Meanwhile, they also propose tax cuts totaling $130 billion.
The White House's latest proposal included $124 billion in savings from Medicare, $124 billion from Medicaid and $59 billion from welfare, along with tax relief of $38 billion.
The latest proposal from GOP leaders was for $168 billion in Medicare savings, $85 billion from Medicaid and $60 billion from welfare, along with $177 billion in tax cuts.
On another front in budget battles, Rep. Bill Orton, D-Utah, and other Democrats introduced a "discharge petition" - which if signed by a majority of House members would force votes on a budget resolution, which they said by law should have been passed by April 15.
It would allow an "open rule" on such debate, meaning several alternative budgets could be presented for votes - including one Orton wrote for The Coalition, a group of about 20 moderate House Democrats.
"Our proposal would simply bring the budget to the floor of the House and open up the process," Orton said. "Our nation deserves nothing less."