The Nation - News from March 6, 1986

The Senate Budget Committee began discussions on the 1987 budget, and Democrats and Republicans acknowledged new revenues will be needed to cut the deficit, despite President Reagan’s opposition. The deliberations were the first under the constraints of the Gramm-Rudman balanced-budget law, which requires that the current deficit of more than $189 billion must be cut to $144 billion in the 1987 fiscal year. If the target is not met, automatic cuts are scheduled to kick in, though that part of the law faces a court challenge.