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December 31, 1995
Web posted at: 12:30 a.m. EST
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After five hours of talks during the day and two more at night, President Clinton and Republican leaders reported progress Saturday, but failed to end the partial government shutdown which entered its 15th day. The two sides will meet again tomorrow.
White House spokesperson Mike McCurry said President Clinton summarized Saturday's discussions by saying, "Today's sessions were helpful but we have a ways to go." (221K AIFF sound or 221K WAV sound)
McCurry said the president, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich were working "on all the areas of disagreement." "They have had some consensus on some points but left others to be resolved later," he said. He also said congressional and White House staff members would continue to work on "sharpening the issues."
Possible cuts in Medicare were a focus of Saturday's discussions, McCurry said.
A three-hour budget session was set for Sunday morning, but no early agreement was expected and McCurry said the talks would continue into the new year, beginning next Tuesday.
White House aides said they're going through a "necessary first process" of analyzing where each side stands on issues like Medicare, Medicaid and taxes. But any single proposal has ripple effects in other areas.
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Bob Dole struck a cautious note of optimism on the Senate floor Saturday. "It seems to me that on Tuesday federal employees should be back to work, parks should be open and we ought to be about our business," he said. "I hope we can get that resolved."
But Dole's proposal for getting 280,000 furloughed workers back on the job -- without pay until a budget agreement is reached -- was shot down by Senate Democrats.
Senator Thomas Daschle, D-South Dakota, said the back-to-work proposal was unacceptable.
Some Democrats were concerned that the measure would restrict open debate which they said was essential for a deal being negotiated. But Republicans fear getting bogged down in weeks of endless debate.
McCurry said Clinton encouraged Senate Democrats to adopt the plan, and guaranteed that federal workers would be paid at a later date.
Responding to a question whether the Democrats were opposed to the plan because they did not trust the president, Mr. Clinton merely grinned and said, "We've got to go to work. Thank you very much." (77K AIFF sound or 77K WAV sound)
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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