ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 26, 1993                   TAG: 9303260165
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

SENATE BACKS BUDGET

Voting along party lines, the Senate on Thursday approved a five-year budget outline that is almost identical to what President Clinton proposed last month and what the House passed last week.

In a telephone conversation with Senate leaders after the vote, Clinton called it a remarkable achievement and said, "Finally we've done something to break the gridlock."

Sen. George Mitchell of Maine, the Democratic leader, also basked in the sunshine of victory. "The American people made a choice last November," he said on the Senate floor. "I think the American people want change, and this Senate has taken a step toward giving it to them."

But while the vote was doubtless a victory for the new administration and the Democratic majority in Congress, the measure, which is called a budget resolution, is no more than a skeleton. The first step in the congressional budget process, it merely establishes how much money will be spent and how much revenue will be raised each year.

The meat and the muscle - which taxes will be raised and cut, and how much money will be spent on each government program - will be determined by subsequent legislation.

"Now the hard part starts," said Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, the Republican leader. "We start shooting with real bullets from now on."

The Senate approved the measure by 54-45. Only two Democrats, Bob Krueger of Texas and Richard Shelby of Alabama, voted against it. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii was absent. All 43 Republicans voted "no."

Virginia's senators split on party lines, with Republican John Warner voting against the plan and Democrat Charles Robb favoring it.

After the vote, the Senate turned at once to Clinton's plan to spend an additional $16 billion over two years to stimulate the economy and create jobs. The debate will last for days, and any number of amendments may be adopted.

The budget resolution is supposed to shrink the federal deficit by a total of slightly more than $500 billion over five years. 





 by Archana Subramaniam

 by CNB