Budget Talks Cordial, Not Decisive

WASHINGTON (CNN, March 20) -- President Clinton met his now official rival, Sen. Robert Dole, today in the opening salvo of -- you guessed it -- budget talks. Though fiscal '96 budget talks have stalled indefinitely, the two sides met at the White House to discuss Clinton's just released fiscal '97 budget.

Congressional Republicans have, unsurprisingly, already called the new budget dead on arrival. At a Capitol Hill news conference following their meeting with the president, however, Dole, House Speaker Newt Gingrich and House Majority Leader Dick Armey were more concilitory. (106K AIFF or WAV sound)

The meeting was "cordial," the GOP leaders agreed, though no agreement was in the offing. "We've got a fairly full plate between now and the end of this month," Dole said. "Then we come back after Easter and work with the president (to see) if we can try to achieve a balanced budget agreement." (199K AIFF or WAV sound)

Don't bet on it. The budget battle is rife with politics, and if the two sides couldn't come to agreement last fall, chances must be viewed as slim they'll come together just as the campaign season heats up. Summing up the GOP spin, Gingrich put the blame on Clinton, who he said "has already vetoed one balanced budget and he has also already vetoed the tax cuts and then he has vetoed welfare reform twice, we may not be able to reach a large agreement." (99K AIFF or WAV sound)

Still, though Dole might prefer to defer a budget deal so he can continue to portray Clinton as the chief impediment, pressure could mount on Congressional Republicans to reach a deal with the Clinton Administration. While there has been intransigence on both sides stemming from genuine policy differences, Repubicans took the biggest beating for the previous budget impasse. They were roundly blamed for the prolonged federal shutdown.(278K AIFF or WAV sound)

Wait And See

In the meantime, the GOP leaders plan to pursue an ambitious agenda for the next several weeks, they said, including enactment of legislation to avoid possible default on the national debt, a catch-all spending bill to take the government through the end of the fiscal year, a farm bill and the much-ballyhooed line item veto. In an uncharactistically frank concession to politics, both sides agreed the line item veto would become effective Jan. 1, 1997.

Spokesman Mike McCurry offered the White House assessment of today's meeting: "The president said he was pleased with the results and said he hopes it indicates that there will be progress to come on the agenda."

Also attending the morning meeting, Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle and House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt held their own press conference. A Clinton crime-fighting program could be "stopped with a block grant" approach pushed by the GOP-controlled Congress, Gephardt complained. In addition, Gephardt said he was alarmed by GOP efforts to weaken the federal ban on some semi-automatic weapons. (259K AIFF or WAV sound)

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