Budget Talks Again Fail to End Shutdown

Political leaders failed once again Sunday to break the budget deadlock or end the federal shutdown that has idled parts of the government for 16 days, and then left the capital for a brief New Year’s holiday.

A last-minute bid to return 280,000 government employees to their jobs, a goal held by a growing share of Congress, bogged down amid partisan accusations and is not likely to be considered until Tuesday.

“It’s not going to be a happy New Year, but we will meet the day after New Year’s” to try to return furloughed employees to their jobs, said Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), who made no attempt to conceal his displeasure with the shutdown. “It’s gotten to the point where it’s a little ridiculous as far as this senator is concerned.”

At the White House, President Clinton and GOP leaders met for more than two hours Sunday morning in a session devoted to Medicare spending and other issues. The talks were characterized more by cautious exchanges of views than breakthroughs. “We’ve made some good progress on a lot of fronts,” said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) as he left the White House after the third straight day of high-level meetings on balancing the budget by 2002.

Clinton, Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) plan to resume the talks Tuesday evening while aides continue discussions in the meantime.

Negotiators will now grapple with “the trade-offs that have to occur,” said White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry, who downplayed reports that the two sides had agreed on $100 billion in cumulative savings from various programs. The real number, he said, “could be considerably bigger.”

The Republican plan would yield $350 billion more in savings toward the balanced budget over seven years than the White House plan would, according to one recent analysis.

Although participants have described the talks as constructive, the failure Sunday to end the partial shutdown underscored the political cross-currents that imperil a sweeping budget compromise.

Senate Democrats on Sunday torpedoed a GOP-backed proposal to recall the furloughed workers because the plan also would impose restrictions on debate about the budget when it reaches the Senate floor. This would tie the hands of dissenters in the Republican-controlled Senate who might want to obstruct or amend a budget measure.

The ill-fated recall proposal, supported by Gingrich and Dole, would have restricted debate on a broader budget-balancing plan to 12 hours, a softer position than the 10 hours offered by Republicans the previous day but a substantial departure from the virtually unlimited debate routinely allowed in the Senate.

Labeling the proposal a “sham” inspired by hard-line House Republicans, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) pointed out that it only would guarantee future pay of furloughed workers, rather than reinstate lost wages right away.

In addition, he pointed out, workers would not be able to spend any agency funds in their jobs until separate spending bills are agreed on by Congress and the president. Thus, a supervisor could go to work but not order any supplies or pay any bills.

“They’ll be required to sit on their hands and stare at each other day after day,” complained Daschle. “This is a facade. This does not work.”

Dole, who was advocating the legislation, then blocked Daschle’s bid to introduce a more comprehensive end to the shutdown that has hobbled nine Cabinet agencies and scores of federal properties, including parks and museums.

Technically, the fight over balancing the budget by 2002 is a separate matter from the question of ending the shutdown, which was sparked by a lapse in annual funding for a variety of agencies and programs.

The problems have become intricately linked, however, because some House Republicans view the shutdown as a way to exert leverage over the White House over longer-term budget issues. Although Republicans seem increasingly sensitive to a public backlash against their strategy, it nonetheless continues to have some support.

The workers “are caught in the middle,” acknowledged freshman Rep. Linda Smith (R-Wash.), appearing on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press.” But she added that “the inconvenience for them of not being paid on time--that’s what we’re talking about--versus my six grandchildren having to pay most of their wages into taxes for interest and programs--there is just no comparison.”

As the budget crisis has endured and increasingly drawn public reaction, party members have become increasingly preoccupied with the contest of directing blame for it to each other.

“This didn’t happen just by happenstance,” declared Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Democratic National Committee, noting that Gingrich had threatened a government shutdown months ago. “Unfortunately, a lot of innocent people are paying the price for it,” Dodd said.

Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican National Committee, accused Democrats of ignoring “the real issues: are we going to have a balanced budget? Why hasn’t he [Clinton] put forth his own balanced budget?”

Several House Republican freshmen, interviewed on news shows Sunday, asserted that they would be willing to consider compromises on any of their positions, including the proposed $245-billion tax cut, except the one that calls for a balanced budget in seven years as computed under the more conservative Congressional Budget Office economic forecast.

White House and congressional negotiators seem to have settled on a general approach to their talks, which have divided key issues into areas of agreement, areas where the sides are close to agreement and areas of fundamental disagreement.

The upcoming stage will tackle the knottiest subjects, including spending curbs for Medicare and the size of a tax cut.

Staff members, for example, have been asked to “define more carefully what their choices are” on the Medicaid program for the elderly and disabled. That subject is particularly touchy, with Republicans seeking to shift responsibility for Medicaid entirely to the states and the White House seeking to preserve Medicaid as a federal entitlement for all who qualify.

“We’ve finished the walk-through process, and now we’re going into the next phase,” said Tony Blankley, spokesman for Gingrich. After the session, Clinton left the White House to fly to Hilton Head, S.C., to play golf and take part in Renaissance Weekend, an annual chatfest styled by its promoters as a gathering of the nation’s most accomplished people. Clinton is to return sometime today.

Gingrich flew home to Georgia for a break that Blankley said would be spent with his wife and daughters. Dole planned a campaign trip to New Hampshire, where he is competing in the Republican presidential primary.

Times staff writer Marlene Cimons contributed to this story.