Budget Deal Begins to Jell as Work Goes On to Wee Hours

House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) said today that although congressional and White House bargainers are near a $500-billion budget deal, disputes remain that leave wide-scale slashes in federal programs looming for Monday.

Without a budget deal, federal drug agents, food and drug inspectors and many of the government’s 2.1 million civilian workers face furloughs beginning Monday.

“There are some remaining issues that are very difficult that remain to be resolved,” Foley said.

Negotiators, still divided over whether to impose new taxes on the wealthy and other issues, plan to meet through the weekend if necessary in hopes of agreeing to a package. Congress plans a rare Sunday session to deal with the fiscal crisis.

More than four months of talks have brought tentative agreements to cut defense and domestic programs and raise the government’s take on items ranging from gasoline to Medicare premiums, officials familiar with the talks said.

But at nearly 1:30 a.m. today, negotiators broke for the night, saying they could not yet shake hands on a pact.

“So close and yet we’re not quite there,” said House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.) as he and other bargainers ended their back-room meeting in the Capitol.

The major questions remain whether Democrats will finally agree to a reduction in the capital gains tax--a longtime demand of President Bush--and which levies on the wealthy will be boosted.