UPDATE 2-White House preparing fiscal task force

* Could show resolve on budget deficits

* Similar measure expected to fail in Senate (New throughout)

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The White House is laying the groundwork for a task force that could make it easier for lawmakers to approve tax hikes, spending cuts or other unpleasant measures to bring down budget deficits, lawmakers and aides said on Tuesday.

The proposed commission would enable President Barack Obama to say he is taking steps to reduce record budget deficits over the long term during his State of the Union address next week without having to spell out how he would do so. [ID:nN14232338]

It also would breathe new life into a similar proposal that is expected to be rejected by the Senate as soon as this week.

Washington has a long track record of outsourcing thorny issues to commissions, then ignoring their findings. But this task force could have more clout.

"I think there is a way to get an executive order which will provide for votes in either house, in both houses, under certain circumstances which are being discussed," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who met with Vice President Joe Biden and other key Democrats at the White House on Tuesday.

That would go a long way toward satisfying fiscal hawks like Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad who say Congress will not take any painful steps unless it is forced to vote on them.

The White House was not immediately available for comment.

The total amount of U.S. debt has more than doubled over the past decade to $12.25 trillion, thanks to a combination of tax cuts, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the deepest recession since the 1930s.

The government spent a record $1.4 trillion more than it collected in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2009, and deficits are projected to remain stubbornly high over the coming decade as costs for retirement and healthcare programs rise.

Experts warn that investors could demand higher interest rates for U.S. debt, leaving less room in the budget for transportation and other priorities.

Public concern is growing over the issue, and a tough vote looms in coming weeks as Congress will have to raise the $12.4 trillion debt limit before the Treasury Department exceeds it.

Conrad will offer his budget commission proposal as an amendment, but it has been expected to fail.

Top Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, worry that the commission would undercut their authority and in recent weeks special-interest groups have mobilized against it.

The Senate could approve a separate measure designed to keep the deficit from worsening. Nicknamed "paygo," it would require new spending to be offset by cuts elsewhere. Conrad and other fiscal hawks say a version passed last year by the House is too full of loopholes.

(Additional reporting by Alister Bull, editing by Vicki Allen)