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January 3, 1996
Web posted at: 8:45 a.m. EST
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After a late night of budget negotiations, Congressional leaders are to resume budget talks with President Clinton at 1:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday, the 19th day of the partial U.S. government shutdown. In a joint statement after Tuesday's three-hour session, the two sides said they made "constructive progress."
The Los Angeles Times reported that Clinton has told Republican leaders he's willing to consider a capital gains tax cut as part of a budget agreement. The president has indicated previously he might consider a capital gains tax cut, but his comments to GOP leaders mark the first time he has offered to support such a reduction as part of a budget compromise, the paper said.
But as the 104th Congress begins its second session, there appears to be no hope for House approval of a bill passed in the Senate on Tuesday that would immediately return 260,000 idled federal employees to work through January 12 and pay them. A spokesman for House Speaker Newt Gingrich said the Senate measure "has no chance in the House." House Republicans want any end to the shutdown to be tied to a seven-year balanced budget agreement.
Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, chairman of the House Republican Conference, said the House will not consider the bill Wednesday without a budget agreement.
Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, supported the measure. "People have been gone from their jobs long enough," he said. "Enough is enough."
But he conceded House Republicans did not agree with him. "They feel this (shutdown) is helpful in bringing about a balanced budget," he said. "That's not my view."
The nearly 500,000 civil servants who have been ordered to report to work without pay because their agencies' budgets remain unapproved also would be paid under the bill.
A federal judge is expected to rule Wednesday on a request by federal workers' unions that would bar the government from forcing employees to work without pay during the shutdown.
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