Compromise Spending Bill Hits New Snag : Legislation: Two Senate Democrats delay action on a measure that calls for cuts in social programs. Proposal had been backed by President.

In another display of division between President Clinton and congressional Democrats, two liberal senators on Friday stalled a White House-backed compromise to cut more than $16 billion from current federal spending and provide almost $7 billion in emergency aid to California and other states.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) cut off debate on the spending bill, a revised version of legislation vetoed by Clinton in early June, after Sens. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) and Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.) objected to proposed cuts in social spending and demanded more time to debate and vote on amendments.

Their opposition scuttled plans by GOP leaders and the White House to whisk the bill through both the House and Senate before Congress’ weeklong Fourth of July recess. The result is another delay for a long-stalled bill that includes almost $5 billion to help California recover from the Northridge earthquake, as well as aid for Oklahoma City in the wake of the April 19 bombing of a federal building that killed 168 people.

The bill, the product of long, painstaking negotiations between the Administration and congressional Republicans, was approved by the House Thursday night and Clinton said he was ready to sign it.

But the changes did not satisfy some Democrats, who argued that the measure still cuts too much from energy assistance for the poor and other social programs.

“It’s a matter of distorted priorities,” Wellstone said. “So many of these cuts seem to be going down the path of least political resistance.”

The bitter fight over $16 billion in spending cuts bodes badly for the budget fights to come this summer, when Congress will consider far bigger cuts in projected future spending needed to carry out GOP plans to balance the budget.

“If this is a glimpse of what’s to come,” Wellstone said, “I’m not going to be silent.”

The dispute also highlights continuing differences in budget strategies between Clinton and his fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill. Earlier, Clinton had angered congressional Democrats when he unveiled a 10-year balanced-budget plan that included cuts in health care and other programs--just as Democrats thought they were making political headway by criticizing GOP budget cuts.

White House Chief of Staff Leon E. Panetta said the President is disappointed that the Senate did not approve the spending-cut bill before the recess.

“This is essential legislation, and it is our hope that the Senate will take it up immediately following the recess,” Panetta said.

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At issue is legislation that would produce net savings of $9 billion in the current fiscal year. The bill packages $16.3 billion in spending cuts with $7 billion in supplemental spending, including $6.6 billion in disaster assistance, $144 million for Oklahoma City, $145 million for anti-terrorism initiatives and $275 million that Clinton requested to relieve debts owed by Jordan to the United States.

The original version of the bill was vetoed by Clinton because he thought it cut too much from education, environmental and other social programs.

Republicans acknowledged that they lack the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto in the House and Senate. And Administration and congressional officials have been negotiating for weeks since then to find an acceptable compromise.

The revised bill would reduce previously approved cuts in programs favored by Clinton by restoring $770 million for education reform, national service, anti-drug initiatives, water treatment and assorted social programs.

To offset that spending, the new bill would make $794 million in additional cuts in government travel and administration, housing and space programs and other areas.

GOP negotiators also agreed to impose limits on a provision, opposed by environmentalists, to speed the sale of dead and damaged timber on federal land.

“We have now achieved a bill I am prepared to sign,” Clinton said in a statement Thursday.

Although some cuts were made less severe, the revised bill still includes significant reductions in a host of social programs, including energy assistance for the poor, job training and school construction aid. Wellstone and Moseley-Braun wanted to offer amendments to restore funds for those programs.

Unable to outmaneuver them and bring the bill to a vote, Dole cut off debate and said that he would not bring the bill back to the floor until after Congress returns July 10 unless Democrats agree to vote on it without change.

Until Clinton “can persuade my Democratic colleagues that this bill is necessary, important, that it ought to be passed, I don’t see any reason to take any further time,” Dole said.