Negotiators still could not reach agreement Thursday on exactly what was agreed to in the budget deal announced last week.
"We're going around and around and around," Office of Management and Budget Director Franklin Raines told reporters, following another negotiating session Thursday afternoon.
Weary negotiators clearly were becoming frustrated with the process. Asked if they reached agreement on sticky health issues, Senate Budget Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said, "We're very much in disagreement on it ... as to whether we ever agreed on it."
Senate Budget ranking member Frank Lautenberg, D- N.J., said he was afraid that if the accord is not finalized shortly, it could fall apart. "There is a determination on all sides to get this done soon," he said. "There is a profound fear that if we don't get it done soon, we'll see this whole ball of twine unwind. I'm inclined to believe that view." Lautenberg added, "There's some misinterpretation about what was agreed to."
Late Thursday, GOP sources said the White House and Republican leaders had agreed to attempt to put together a "letter of agreement" that addresses the disputes that have arisen in the days since the budget deal was announced.
Asked if Friday's announcement of a deal was premature based on the problems that have developed since then, House Budget ranking member John Spratt, D-S.C., paused, and said, "I'd rather not comment." Spratt said negotiators have a list of about eight or nine items they must resolve.
Earlier in the day, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., said the issues include whether low- income Medicare patients will have to pay higher premiums, discretionary spending levels and education tax credits.
However, late Thursday, Domenici said tax negotiators had reached agreement on the Clinton administration's higher education tax credit proposal. Raines said the agreement calls for the tax bill to include the $35 billion education plan proposed by the administration. But a House Ways and Means Committee spokesman would not confirm that figure, adding that Chairman Bill Archer, R-Texas, has "said he'll do the best he can."
The spokesman said Archer told President Clinton that he was aware of the president's priorities and would be sensitive to them. He said, however, that the Ways and Means Committee will design the tax cut plan.
Meanwhile, it was unclear exactly when the House and Senate Budget Committees might mark up the budget resolution.
Both committees were scheduled to mark up the resolution Tuesday. But House Majority Leader Richard Armey, R-Texas, announced the House Budget Committee will mark up the plan Wednesday.
And it may be difficult to come to agreement on several outstanding issues today, since Senate Republicans were holding a retreat.
House Minority Leader Gephardt Thursday accused Republicans of rushing to mark up the plan before legislators fully understood what was in the package.
NEXT STORY: Brits Voted for Government