
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 24, 1990                   TAG: 9007270633
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEGOTIATORS AGREE TO TAKE NON-PARTISAN APPROACH ON DEFICIT

President Bush flew here today for a GOP rally after agreeing with leaders of Congress to cool partisan rhetoric in an effort to produce a compromise on cutting the deficit, a White House spokesman said.

On the morning after his nomination of David H. Souter to the Supreme Court, Bush was raising funds for the party's underdog gubernatorial candidates in Pennsylvania and New York.

But first he met in the White House with five congressional leaders on the deficit talks.

Flying to Philadelphia aboard Air Force One, White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said Bush would be "very gentle" toward the Democrats in his campaign speeches.

"They're working in a spirit of harmony and compromise. In fact, they agreed this morning at the meeting that they would try to keep the rhetoric under control and really try to make this a productive week of work," Fitzwater said.

Bush planned to meet with the congressional leaders every morning this week while a larger, 21-member group of administration and congressional officials grapples with the details each afternoon.

"The president feels they made progress. It was a good meeting," Fitzwater said.

"The larger group is doing the heavy lifting in terms of going through specific proposals and reaching conclusions about various options," the spokesman said.

"Then the leadership group basically reviews the work done by the large group and gives them any instructions they might have for the next day's work," he said.

Bush was campaigning in Philadelphia for Barbara Hafer, a pro-choice Republican trying to oust Democratic Gov. Robert Casey, who is anti-abortion.

After a stop at an anti-drug rally in a west Philadelphia community center, Bush was bound for Manhattan to raise funds for Pierre Renfret, en economist and political novice seeking to defeat Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo.

by CNB