White House, GOP Strike Foreign Aid Bill Deal, Raising Budget Talk Hopes

The Clinton administration and congressional Republicans struck a deal Thursday night on a $15.3-billion foreign aid bill in a breakthrough both sides think will help speed agreement on their remaining budget disputes.

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said that though some details were still being worked out, he planned for the House to vote on the package today.

“This is the key that opens us up to negotiate” the rest of the pending battles, Hastert said.

President Clinton has made agreement on the foreign aid bill the keystone for settling disputes on the other four remaining spending bills for the new fiscal year. Remaining disagreements include Clinton proposals to hire teachers and police officers and pay late U.N. dues, and GOP provisions helping mining, timber and other Western industries that the White House says would hurt the environment.

White House budget office spokeswoman Linda Ricci said some details of the foreign aid deal were still being finalized.

The agreement marked the latest in which Republicans have moved substantially toward Clinton’s spending demands. Both sides also have been finding agreements on savings they say would avoid using Social Security surpluses to finance federal programs.