Clinton, GOP Leaders Seek ‘Train Wreck’ Side Rail : Budget: In hourlong meeting, agreement is reached to consider a stopgap spending bill. It could avert government shutdowns on Oct. 1.

President Clinton and Republican congressional leaders agreed Tuesday to consider a short-term spending bill to keep the government running if they fail to agree to a new federal budget by the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1.

Such a bill would avert what has come to be known as a “train wreck”--a fiscal impasse during which most of the federal government would have to stop operating until agreement is reached.

Clinton, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) did not agree on the size or duration of a temporary spending bill--a “continuing resolution,” in federal budget jargon--but they agreed for the first time that it was the most likely way to avoid a messy fiscal crisis.

“We do have different priorities, but I think we can reach an agreement if we work on it,” Clinton said as he opened a meeting with both Republican and Democratic congressional leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House.

“We don’t want any stoppage; we don’t want to lay off government employees,” Gingrich told reporters after the hourlong meeting. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see a very short-term” stopgap resolution.

In a gesture toward compromise, Clinton proposed a temporary spending bill to meet the Republicans’ budget-cut targets--but also allow the Administration to preserve some programs that the GOP wants to abolish.

Gingrich and Dole did not accept that offer, saying that they want to pass as much of their detailed budget-cutting program as possible by Oct. 1. But they said that they would consider a continuing resolution to cover anything they do not complete by that deadline.

“Our goal is to get as much work done as possible on appropriations,” Gingrich said. “We’ll see what happens on Oct. 1.”

According to Republicans and Democrats who attended the meeting, one increasingly probable scenario is this: By Oct. 1, Congress passes most of the 13 appropriations bills that provide spending for government operations; Clinton signs most of them, but vetoes two or three, and Congress passes a continuing resolution to cover the bills he vetoed, allowing debate on those issues to go on.

Clinton and Dole also agreed on another issue: More worrisome than a budget “train wreck” is the prospect that conservative House Republicans might block an extension of the federal debt ceiling in November, potentially forcing the government to default on some loans.

“I do think we’ve reached a point where if we don’t extend it, it will cause real problems,” Dole said.

Gingrich, whose most fervent followers have said that they will block any more federal borrowing, did not respond when a reporter asked how he planned to solve the apparent impasse.

Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin has warned that a fiscal disaster could occur unless the debt ceiling is raised by Nov. 15. But a Gingrich aide said that the Speaker believes the Administration is exaggerating the urgency of the problem.

With polls showing that most Americans want Clinton and the Republicans to work together on a budget, both sides appeared eager to strike conciliatory poses--and to shift any blame toward the other.