Congress’ Budget Writers Predict Minimal Battling

Congress’ chief budget writers said Friday that President Reagan’s conciliatory spending plan for fiscal 1989 should make for the least contentious and most bipartisan session since he took office.

“As he goes out the door, his last budget does what he railed against for seven years,” House Budget Committee Chairman William H. Gray III (D-Pa.) said, citing the restraints on defense spending and increases in many domestic programs in the $1.1-trillion plan.

At a hearing of the Senate Budget Committee, lawmakers questioned Budget Director James C. Miller III about the optimism behind Reagan’s projection of a $129.5-billion deficit in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

Miller assured lawmakers that the Administration would work with Congress this year. If official estimates due in August show the deficit is above the $146-billion threshold for automatic spending cuts under the Gramm-Rudman law, the White House will cooperate in solving the problem, he said.

Committee Chairman Sen. Lawton Chiles (D-Fla.) and others complimented the Administration on the budget priorities, while making clear that some changes will be made.

“After eight years, it looks like you’ve finally seen the light on education, drug enforcement, health and the environment,” Chiles said, noting increases in those areas. “We’re about ready to welcome you to the ranks of the faithful, even though you have a few more things to learn--like how to restore the two-thirds you cut from programs to help the homeless.”

Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), the senior Republican on the panel, said Reagan’s plan “set a formula for Congress to act quickly on the budget and appropriations.

“If ever there was a year we could complete our work on time, it’s this year,” he said.