Congress makes little budget progress

WASHINGTON - Trapped in Washington by the pre-election budget battle, Congress met Saturday, exchanged political barbs with President Clinton but made little apparent progress in the fight over school spending, tax cuts and immigration.

At the White House, Clinton told reporters that ''the right wing of the Republican caucus'' was hindering GOP leaders from striking deals on a $240 billion, 10-year tax-cutting package and a separate spending bill that is home to a fight over immigration.

And on a day when members of Congress held no formal budget meetings with each other or the White House, Clinton called on Republicans to negotiate on Sunday.

Rather than bargaining, Clinton said, lawmakers approved their latest bill keeping federal agencies open for another day and ''quickly left town'' until Sunday night, when they will pass another such bill.

''That's like going to work in the morning, punching the clock and going back home,'' Clinton said.

House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said Clinton was playing ''blatant partisan politics'' by being inflexible on the budget and dragging out this session of Congress, ''keeping members away from their families, away from their campaigns, away from their constituents.''

Republicans also said the right wing was not hindering bargaining, noting that the tax bill Clinton has threatened to veto already includes a minimum wage increase and some money for school construction.

''This would be the first time the right wing of our caucus insisted we put minimum wage in the bill, insisted we put school construction in the bill,'' said Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the chief deputy majority whip.

The verbal dueling underlined how members of both parties hope to use the newly invigorated budget battle to attract votes on Election Day, which is Nov. 7.

If anything, with neck-and-neck elections for control of the White House and Congress just 10 days off, trust between the two sides seemed to be fraying.

Members of both parties said White House officials were saying Clinton might veto a spending measure for Congress' own operations, the Treasury Department and smaller agencies that they had earlier indicated he would sign. Clinton has until Monday to veto it or it automatically becomes law.

If he vetoes it, Democrats said, Clinton could argue that Congress had sent him a bill raising lawmakers' salaries and phasing out the federal tax on telephone use before agreeing to his demands to help communities build new schools and sending him a bill he can sign raising the minimum wage.

''Here's where they're not keeping their commitments,'' said Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. ''They're threatening to demagogue that. It's very difficult to work with people if they're not going to keep their word.''

The bill would let members of Congress receive a $3,800 pay raise to $145,100 next year. The federal telephone tax is 3 percent - which many consumers would barely notice but would cost the government $5 billion a year.

Clinton did sign the $78 billion agriculture bill which partly lifts the embargo on food sales to Cuba, provides aid to drought-stricken farmers, and permits the import of U.S.-made drugs that are sold cheaper in other countries.

In private meetings, congressional aides tried whittling a list of 299 last-minute bills and projects that many lawmakers want to add to final must-pass legislation. It includes everything from money for the redevelopment of downtown Hershey, Pa., to legislation helping Americans facing legal judgments abroad.

But increasingly, the question was becoming whether the budget fight would be finished next week or force a lame-duck session of Congress after the elections.

The tax bill would reduce taxes for many small businesses, people with health-care and long-term care expenses and investors in poor neighborhoods. It would also raise the $5.15 hourly minimum wage by $1 by January 2002, and protect hospitals and health-maintenance organizations from $30 billion in scheduled Medicare cuts.

The $39.9 billion spending bill Clinton has threatened to veto covers the departments of Commerce, Justice and State. It would help 1 million immigrants stay in the United States, about half the number Clinton wants to assist.

More casual garb than usual was the rule as the House voted 339-7 and the Senate voted 67-2 to keep federal agencies open for another day, the eighth such extension since fiscal 2001 began Oct. 1. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, wore a string tie with a walrus head carved from ivory, while Rep. Bob Stump, R-Ariz., donned jeans along with a cowboy belt and blazer.