DEAL REACHED

October 15, 1998
	Fifteen days after the start of the fiscal year, President Clinton and congressional leaders have reached to a $1.7 trillion federal budget for 1999. After this background report, Elizabeth Farnsworth discusses today's deal with House Majority Leader Dick Armey and Gene Sperling, director of the the president's National Economic Council.

Oct. 15, 1998: A discussion of the budget deal. Feb. 2, 1998: Debate over the President's budget proposal. Feb. 2, 1998: The details of the President's proposal. Jan. 9, 1998: Exploring the possiblities and plausibility of a budget surplus. Aug. 5, 1997: President Clinton signs a budget deal that will balance the books by 2002. July 29, 1997: Experts analyze the budget deal. May 2, 1997: Sen. Pete Domenici and Budget Director Franklin Raines discuss the budget agreement. Browse the NewsHour's coverage of the budget, the White House and the Political Wrap index   Office of Management and Budget U.S. Senate	Buring the midnight oil.
	KWAME HOLMAN: The Senate routinely begins its day with a prayer from its chaplain. The words he chose today were particularly appropriate. REV. LLOYD OGLIVIE, Senate chaplain: In the midst of the concluding discussion and debate over the crucial issues and the completion of the budget, we need your divine intervention and inspiration. KWAME HOLMAN: Members of the Senate and the House have been anxious to complete work on the budget for the new fiscal year and return home -- many to campaign for reelection. For the last six days they've bided their time -- leisurely debating minor pieces of legislation. But late last night came word the president and congressional leaders from both parties had all but reached agreement on a budget deal. Early today, some Democrats were quick to declare victory.
	REP. FRANK PALLONE, (D) New Jersey: Mr. Speaker we're still likely to be here a few more days as we hammer out this budget agreement, but I want to say that I am very proud of the Democrats who have stuck it out and demanded that this budget agreement address education initiatives. It appears -- and I say it appears because we don't know for sure -- but it seems like the Republicans finally have agreed to our proposal for 100,000 teachers that are going to be hired across the country with federal dollars.
	Details of the deal.
	KWAME HOLMAN: Included in the budget deal is one point one billion dollars to hire those new teachers, an initiative at the top of President Clinton's budget priority list. Also included is the $18 billion contribution the president wanted for the International Monetary Fund, paired with some IMF lending reforms insisted on by Republicans. And there is 20 billion dollars in emergency spending for the Bosnia peacekeeping mission, increased defense spending, and more financial aid for farmers. The bill does not include money the president requested for new school construction, and the measure puts off until April the dispute on how best to conduct the year 2000 census. On the Senate side Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott gave his characterization of the deal. SEN. TRENT LOTT, majority leader: I must say that while there are some great disappointments on my part about what is not in the bill and some disappointments about some things that are in the bill, on balance, this is going to be good for American. I had a question a moment ago about who's the winner and who's the loser? The only question should be: Is America the winner?
	A conservative revolt in the making?
	KWAME HOLMAN: By early afternoon, however, Republican conservatives from the House had a different characterization of the budget deal. They said they were angry that the agreement did not include a sizeable tax cut and that the $20 billion in emergency spending was to be taken from the federal budget surplus. REP. ERNEST ISTOOK, (R) Oklahoma: This is an effort by President Clinton to use leverage to increase the size of government, to increase the amount of government spending, and to do it at the expense not only of the first surplus in about 30 years but also at the expense of being able to give tax relief to the American people. KWAME HOLMAN: Nevertheless, by mid-afternoon the final touches of the deal were complete. And Republican leaders stood overwhelmingly in favor of it.
	REP. NEWT GINGRICH: I would suggest to you that the founding fathers would feel this is precisely a process in which Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, came together, brought the concerns, the fears, the needs of their various constituencies, met, worked for many, many long hours to find a balanced agreement in which we have a stronger defense, a stronger anti-drug effort, a stronger education effort, stronger research for biomedicine and for National Institutes of Health. You go through item after item, and I think you'll find that this is a remarkably balanced and a remarkably solid agreement.
	Democrats declare victory.
	KWAME HOLMAN: And at the White House the president, vice president and the Democratic congressional leadership praised the deal as well. SEN. TOM DASCHLE, Minority Leader: I don't think anyone ought to be mistaken about why we're here. We're here because the president had a veto pen. And he was determined to use that veto pen unless - as Democrats - we were able to ensure the Republicans understood the depth of feeling we had about critical policy agenda items. I thank our Republican colleagues for coming to the table and working in good faith through these very challenging moments. KWAME HOLMAN: Now that the leaders have signed on, the full House and Senate are expected to pass the budget deal overwhelmingly sometime tomorrow.