Prods Congress to Pass Budget : Reagan Reluctantly Signs Stopgap Funding Measure

Civil servants breathed easier Saturday night with word that President Reagan, at the summit in Iceland, had signed “with great reluctance” a stopgap measure to provide funds to run the federal government until midnight Wednesday.

The instrument Reagan signed was a so-called continuing resolution that was forwarded to him aboard a White House plane after it cleared Congress on Friday. The measure, the third of its kind enacted recently, permits funding from midnight Friday to midnight Wednesday of existing programs at current levels. No regular appropriation bill for the 1987 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, has been enacted.

Reagan’s decision to sign the resolution, after his aides had indicated a veto was likely, ended the prospect of a temporary shutdown of non-essential government services that could have temporarily idled about 500,000 members of the government’s civilian work force.

‘It Is a Disgrace’

In Reykjavik, Reagan issued a statement noting that “Congress has had over eight months to pass the necessary appropriations bills,” that the new fiscal year began nearly two weeks ago and that he had already signed two temporary funding extensions.

“This is no way to run the federal government,” he said. “It is inefficient, disruptive and costly--in a word, it is a disgrace. I repeat my call for the Congress to do its duty: send an acceptable budget without further delay.”

The Office of Management and Budget had announced tentative plans Friday to shut down services as necessary if the continuing resolution was not signed. The cutoff would have started over the weekend, having its first significant impact when the three-day Columbus Day holiday ends Tuesday.

Arms Deadlock Resolved

The picture changed Friday afternoon when the President and congressional leaders reached an agreement resolving an arms control deadlock between the White House and the Democratic-controlled House. It appeared to set a pattern for resolving disagreements on a long list of issues that have stalled action on a massive half-billion-dollar omnibus budget bill for fiscal 1987.

However, a House-Senate conference failed Friday night to reach a budget agreement acceptable to both chambers and to the White House. Such a measure must be passed before members can adjourn the 99th Congress.

The conference committees are scheduled to return to work Tuesday in an attempt to complete an acceptable budget.