November 18, 1999, 2:45pm EST BUDGET DEAL REACHED Both parties in Congress are claiming victory as marathon budget negotiations come to a close and House members prepare for a vote on a compromise $390 billion bill.

October 1, 1999: Congress welcomes the new fiscal year, but with many old problems. Sept. 23, 1999: Two Congressmen on the president's veto of the Republican budget. June 28, 1999: The White House budget director discusses the budget surplus. March 22, 1999: The Senate Budget Committee approves the Republican budget plan. March 9, 1999: From budget deficit to surplus. February 16, 1999: Republicans announce a major tax cut proposal. February 1, 1999: Details of the president's fiscal year 2000 budget proposal. Browse the NewsHour's coverage of the budget.   The White House The Office of Management and Budget homepage. Senate Committee on the Budget.	"Both sides can be proud of this accord," House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said after 10 days of balancing between White House and Congressional demands. "The president got his priorities, we got our priorities," said House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri. The budget package covers five of the 13 annual spending bills, financing the departments of Interior, Health and Human Services, foreign aid and scores of other programs, agencies and departments. President Clinton has already signed eight other bills into law. Before coming to an agreement, though, lawmakers had to resolve a number of snags over issues such as milk pricing and mountaintop coal mining. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., unsuccessfully pushed to let the mountaintop mines continue dumping rubble into valleys and streams. The milk provision made it in, however, despite the stiff opposition of Congressmen from Midwestern dairy states. Most lawmakers showed little interest in the individual provisions, preferring instead to avoid a government shutdown to debating regional issues. The agreement also has the backing of President Clinton, who commented from Istanbul, Turkey, where he is attending a European leaders summit. "This budget is a victory, and a hard-won victory, for the American people," he told reporters.
	Not perfect, but good enough
	Both sides in the debate claim the bill -- though not perfect -- meet the goals of their parties. President Clinton says the agreement will help clean the environment, reduce school class sizes and fight crime. Republicans say they achieved their goal of balancing the budget while protecting the Social Security Trust Fund. In addition the agreement: imposes a 0.38 percent across-the-board cut for federal programs. allocates more than $1 billion to pay mounting back dues to the United Nations. The funds had been held up in a controversy over international abortion policies. clears the International Monetary Fund to revalue part of its gold reserves to fund $3.1 billion of debt relief for poor nations, and provides $1.8 billion to implement the Wye River Middle East peace accords. Both parties hope to claim the bill as an accomplishment to boast during the 2000 election year. With passage in the House, the bill will move to the Senate either Friday or Saturday.