Senator Kent Conrad speaking at a news conference last week on fiscal issues. He supports creating a deficit-cutting panel.
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The Senate on Sunday approved a $446.8 billion spending package that will keep much of the federal government running through next September.
But even as they sent the spending measure to President Obama, Democrats were deeply divided over efforts to substantially raise the federal debt limit before Congress quits for the year.
With the increased spending and more red ink provoking new Congressional alarm, a group of Democratic deficit hawks was insisting that Congress and the White House agree to new efforts to rein in the deficit or they would block a large increase in the debt limit.
Failure to increase the $12.1 trillion debt limit to cover federal borrowing could lead to a technical government default. As a result, the White House is eager to get some breathing room on the debt by the end of the year, giving lawmakers worried about deficit spending added power.
"There are a number of us who feel very strongly that this is the moment we can get some kind of concession," said Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri and one of a group of lawmakers who met in the Capitol over the weekend to plot strategy.
She and others said they wanted a vote on a new proposal to create a bipartisan, independent commission to recommend spending cuts and revenue increases to pare the deficit. Others want an agreement by Congress to follow "pay as you go" rules when considering legislation.
If they are unable to strike a deal with the White House and the Congressional leadership, the lawmakers said they would support only a short-term increase in the debt limit -- perhaps into February -- to allow more time for negotiation and for Mr. Obama to present his own deficit-reduction strategy in his State of the Union address.
"We are not going to give up the leverage we have now," said Senator Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat who leads the Budget Committee and is an author of the plan to create an independent deficit commission.
The spending measure passed Sunday on a vote of 57 to 35. The push by Democrats comes as Republicans, who presided over deficit spending when they controlled Congress and the White House, have tried to paint Democrats as profligate because of the $787 billion stimulus plan and other spending increases.
Trying to rebuild after two poor election showings, Republicans have focused on fiscal restraint as a way to try to recapture core conservative voters, despite their own recent record.
Republicans pointed to a 10 percent to 12 percent overall spending increase included in the measure as representative of a Democratic willingness to overspend.
"Poll after poll have made it clear that this kind of irresponsible and excessive spending is unacceptable, but Democrats simply aren't getting the message," Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in a statement after the vote.
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