Serious Budget Talks to Begin

Serious negotiations between the Clinton administration and congressional budget writers will begin next week, in the hope that a balanced budget deal still can be cut shortly, a key Senate Republican aide said on Tuesday.

"That hope is still there," the aide said, shortly before staff-level discussions between the administration and House and Senate budget aides resumed this morning.

"I'm not characterizing the likelihood one way or another," the aide said. Those staff discussions began last week and will continue this week. "We're laying out the various options," the aide said, adding that "in that sense, they've been very fruitful."

The talks this week are intended to clarify the various positions in an effort to make the discussions between the "principals" easier. The staffer said Senate Republicans are waiting until the end of next week before deciding whether they need to begin moving a budget resolution or wait to see if the talks are likely to result in a deal. He said that by April 15 "we have to fish or cut bait."

House Majority Leader Armey recently said he expected the House and Senate to consider an fiscal 1998 budget resolution sometime during the first two weeks of May.

Meanwhile, the aide said it would be "premature" to say Senate Budget Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., has again endorsed a plan that would delay tax cuts until spending cuts that would result in a balanced budget are locked in.

"Sen. Domenici himself has made no decisions," the aide said, pointing out that Domenici has just returned from a trip to North Korea and South Korea. The aide said the delayed tax cut is a "staff preferred option."

During the last Congress, Domenici supported a proposal that would have required the Congressional Budget Office to certify that sufficient cuts had been enacted to achieve a balanced budget before tax cut funds were released. "The 1995 model was a good model," the aide said. House Speaker Newt Gingrich has been criticized by conservatives for endorsing a scenario similar to the 1995 Domenici plan.