Senator says negotiators have reached deal on budget resolution

Senate and House budget writers have reached a compromise on a budget resolution that could be taken up by both bodies as soon as next week, said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

"We reached agreement," Conrad said Monday. "We reached agreement on Friday night."

Conrad declined to give any specifics. The budget resolution is a spending blueprint that sets the discretionary spending level for the fiscal year and helps determine funding limits for the 12 annual appropriations bills.

If approved by the House and Senate, the deal will be the first budget resolution approved in an election year since the Clinton administration.

The compromise clears the way for congressional leaders to name members to a conference committee.

"So we are ready now for the House and Senate to name conferees," Conrad said. "We expect that will be done this week and we could perhaps have a conference either late this week or early next."

If the legislation is approved by a conference committee this week, the bill could possibly be considered by the House and Senate the following week, Conrad said. House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, D-S.C., and Conrad have been in unofficial negotiations on the budget to help assure its passage in both chambers.

Last week, Conrad said that among the issues that remained unresolved was an agreement on the budget's level of discretionary spending.

The budget resolution approved by the House this year would call for $1.014 trillion in discretionary funding. The Senate budget plan would provide $1.010 trillion. As of last week, negotiators cut the difference to $1.8 billion.

"It is a split as you would imagine," he said. "There is compromise throughout this agreement; both sides have given ground in areas -- both the House and the Senate have -- and that is true with the discretionary number. [But] I don't think it would be appropriate for me to put it out before we've got conferees and before we've presented it to them."

Conrad said he and Spratt will make a presentation to conferees once they are named.

The budget compromise comes after Conrad said recently that he thought that congressional action on the budget could slip until after Memorial Day, as leading lawmakers are focused on passing a supplemental spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.