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Shutdown averted, but budget talks could last weeks longer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With the short-term problem of funding the federal government solved, White House and congressional officials say they may need a few more weeks to finish passing the federal budget bills for this year.

 

That's not good news for lawmakers, who will have less time to spend among voters in a year when control of the House -- and possibly the Senate -- is up for grabs in November.

President Clinton signed an emergency spending bill Friday that would keep the government running into the 2001 fiscal year, which began Sunday. In his final budget battle, Clinton is standing firm on a key election-year issue -- promising to keep his team at the negotiating table until lawmakers approve money to modernize U.S. schools and hire 100,000 teachers to reduce class size.

"It's a question of values, priorities," said Jack Lew, director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget. "Are we today going to make the decision to put the resources into the right programs?"

Republicans continue to insist school districts should decide how education dollars should be spent. But the school spending bill isn't the only matter left to resolve: So far, only two of the 13 spending bills to keep the federal government running have become law.

The emergency spending bill the president signed will prevent a government shutdown like the one in 1995, and the two sides compromised Friday on a $12 billion White House plan to protect public lands. But Clinton is accusing lawmakers of inflating spending bills with pork-barrel projects.

"I am concerned about the size and last-minute nature of this year's congressional spending spree," he said last week.

Republicans, meanwhile, blame Clinton for a budget that could top $640 billion.

"There's always some abuses in the spending in these bills, but nothing like what the administration is pushing for," said Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Arkansas.

With lawmakers anxious to hit the campaign trail, Republican negotiators concede the president is likely to get almost everything he wants.

"But congressional priorities, senatorial Republican and House Republican priorities will be in these bills also," Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico, told CNN's "Evans, Novak, Hunt and Shields" over the weekend. "There is no doubt about that."

 
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