P.M. BRIEFING : $14.7-Billion Deficit-Reduction Bill Signed by President Bush

President Bush today signed a $14.7-billion deficit-reduction bill for the current fiscal year, ending automatic across-the-board cuts that had been imposed in October.

Bush’s action put the final wraps on a federal budget for the year ending next Sept. 30. He signed the bill even as he neared approval of a budget for the 1991 fiscal year that Administration sources said would call for a record $1.24 trillion in federal spending.

The bill the President signed today forces new cuts in spending to reconcile earlier spending actions with targets of the Gramm-Rudman budget-balancing law.

By signing the measure, Bush lifted an order that had taken effect in October that imposed $16.2 billion in across-the-board cuts.

“The across-the-board cuts imposed would have disrupted some important federal activities had they remained in effect all year,” he said in signing the so-called budget “reconciliation” bill.

Although precise budget figures have yet to be plugged in, Bush has finished mediating disputes between Cabinet heads over spending levels and is near a final decision on the overall plan, officials said.