Clinton indicates willingness to compromise on spending bills

Eager to forge an agreement on the remaining fiscal 2001 budget issues, President Clinton is offering to reduce his previous demand for spending on the Labor-HHS appropriations bill.

According to sources familiar with a meeting Monday between Clinton and the bicameral congressional leadership, the president indicated he would consider a spending level lower than the amount contained in a deal between the White House and congressional leaders before Election Day.

There has been growing unrest among Republicans over the nearly $113 billion approved by negotiators. However, a senior Clinton aide indicated that a deal on money would not necessarily mean that Clinton would backtrack on demands related to education spending. Clinton wants to increase funding, but Republicans object to insufficient local control over money. "We indicated a willingness to talk about a Labor-HHS bill that was acceptable on key administration priorities," the senior aide said Tuesday.

The president's flexibility extends to other areas, including proposals related to Hispanic immigration and relief for Medicare providers, sources said. According to the senior Clinton aide, Clinton laid out for Republicans how far he could go in their direction on a variety of topics.

One of the few subjects not up for discussion in coming days, White House Press Secretary Jake Siewert indicated Tuesday, is punting the appropriations matters into next year.

"This talk of putting off these decisions for another three or four months ... amounts to a real cut in education," he said. "We don't think that that's an acceptable outcome."