Contending President Clinton’s balanced budget plan falls short, House Republicans on Wednesday pushed through a resolution asking Clinton to come up with a new proposal.

Democrats accused Republicans of reverting to political one-upmanship and said Republicans should first produce their own budget.

The near party-line, 231-197 vote was another sign that the cooperative spirit espoused by both sides after Clinton unveiled his budget plan a month ago is largely gone.

Republicans denied that the measure was simply a means to embarrass the president. “We want to work with you,” said House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas. “I hope that we could accept this as an invitation and as an encouragement.”

But freshman Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., saw it as a “cynical attempt to make the president look bad.”