Budget Agreement Still On Hold

Budget negotiators still could not reach agreement Tuesday night on issues many thought had been resolved more than a week ago when a five-year balanced budget deal was announced.

"With an agreement, you don't have an agreement until you have an agreement," Office of Management and Budget Director Franklin Raines told reporters, following a six-hour meeting with congressional budget leaders. Several thorny issues remain, negotiators said, adding that those issues may be resolved by President Clinton and GOP leaders if they cannot be settled at a lower level.

The continuing struggle most likely will force a postponement of Wednesday's House Budget Committee markup, although House Budget Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio and Senate Budget Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said they still hope to mark up a fiscal 1998 budget resolution this week.

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Frank Lautenberg, D- N.J., said the negotiators are still struggling over a number of programs that will be identified as spending priorities. In addition, he said, discussions are continuing over how many budget reconciliation bills will be considered. GOP leaders had said they expected two bills to be considered, although that issue has been opened again.

Nonetheless, negotiators said they still are optimistic they can reach a final agreement. "We closed a lot of issues tonight," House Budget ranking member John Spratt, D-S.C., told reporters.

Spratt said they were continuing to work on a 40-page addendum that will outline the budget deal, but will not be part of the budget resolution.

Lautenberg said he is optimistic that the issues can be settled and that he will be able to support a budget resolution introduced by Domenici.

"But by no means is it done," Lautenberg said. He later added, "I am more optimistic than I have been for the last 10 days."

Domenici said, "The remaining issues are not insurmountable."

Raines said the negotiators may be forced to meet again. He said that by sometime today, they will know whether the remaining issues can be resolved or if they will have to be solved by congressional leaders and the president.