Budget Agreement Talks Hit the Skids

WASHINGTON — The war of words escalated Thursday over the outlook for a budget deal as the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee said he felt chances of negotiating an agreement with the White House were finished.

“I believe a chance of getting a negotiated budget between the Republicans and the president are finished,” said Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.).

Domenici, at an Appropriations panel hearing, complained that the White House has talked more about plans to increase spending than about cuts.

Public statements of bipartisan goodwill that started the year have eroded recently, with each party taking shots at the other over lack of visible progress on the budget. Contentious budget negotiations in the last Congress forced two government shutdowns.

Senate Democratic leaders accused Republicans of stalling on budget talks and failing to formulate their own version.

“The Republicans don’t have a plan, they only appear to want to criticize the Democrats’ plan,” said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).

Congressional leaders have been talking privately with administration officials about budget issues, but full-fledged budget negotiations have yet to start.

The White House said it was ready for negotiations to begin. “We’re ready to talk now,” said Lawrence Haas, spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget.

“We’re waiting for the other side to either sit down with us or present an alternative, but the time for carping, it seems to us, is over and the time to work has arrived,” he said.

Domenici said Republicans would do a budget: “Just be patient, we’ll do one. I’ll guarantee that when we’re finished it’s not going to be a pleasant life for the president and all these programs he wants,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said Clinton’s “unwillingness” to address the consumer price index issue “has made it very tough for us to get a budget agreement of any kind.”

An advisory commission last December said the CPI overstated inflation by about 1.1 percentage points a year. Federal benefits programs such as Social Security and veterans benefits use the CPI to calculate annual increases, so a lower index could mean big reductions in federal spending.

“He did not send us a budget that showed courage and leadership, and now he has not been willing to face up to the CPI problem; he’s only got one strike left,” Lott said.

Republicans are now likely to develop their own budget plan, Lott said. “If he [Clinton] doesn’t get engaged with us, he will become basically irrelevant in the process and we have to move on,” he said.