President George W. Bush's first budget which includes a proposal for $1.35 trillion in tax cuts was withdrawn from the House of Representatives after it was learned two pages of it were missing.
House Republicans who had been determined to hold lawmakers in the Capitol for a final vote instead rescheduled it for Tuesday.
"The greatest deliberative body in the world has been reduced to caricature status to get something done before people know what's in it," said Mr David Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat who accused Republicans of trying to rush through the budget before Democrats had a chance to review it.
Republicans said it was a simple mistake.
"I'm not sure I can tell you precisely how those two pages were missing" said House Budget Committee Chairman Mr Jim Nussle of Iowa, who took responsibility for the gaffe.
Hours before they expected the House vote, Republicans sliced $6 billion from the budget that was to deal with natural disasters and other emergencies after congressional committees fought over control of the money.
The measure also is scheduled for a final vote on Tuesday in the Senate, where Democrats and two moderate Republicans forced Mr Bush to scale back his $1.6 trillion tax cuts to pick up votes needed to pass the measure in the chamber that is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats.