NATION : Daily Deficit Bargaining Slated
President Bush and the leaders of Congress will meet daily this week for “hard bargaining” to produce an agreement to cut the federal deficit, the White House said today.
Bush will confer with the House and Senate leaders Tuesday before departing for political speeches in Philadelphia and New York, spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said.
“The tentative plan is for them to meet each day this week early in the morning,” he said.
“This is a period of very intense negotiations. The President wants to give it a major push,” he said. “So they felt the leadership should get together and do some hard bargaining to see if we can’t get it resolved.”
Bush and the leaders last met Wednesday before embarking on a three-day Western trip, during which he blamed the Democrats for “government by gridlock” in Washington.
Fitzwater said Bush is aiming for a budget agreement before Congress takes its summer break.
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