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

DATE: FRIDAY, October 27, 1995                   TAG: 9510270087
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JILL LAWRENCE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

IN GOP'S HISTORIC BILLS, MUCH REMAINS NEGOTIABLE

``We'll fix it in conference'' is the rallying cry as Republicans go for surface unity on landmark balanced-budget bills packed with controversial initiatives. Tax cuts, farm subsidies, Medicaid money, student loans - GOP leaders are punting these and other contentious issues to House and Senate negotiators, with satisfaction far from guaranteed.

Conference is where members of the House and Senate are sent to reconcile differences between House and Senate bills. Next week, when the go-team glow is dimming and fissures have reopened among Republicans, it will be deal-making central.

``There are a lot of very large issues that have to be worked out,'' acknowledged Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, the No. 4 House GOP leader. ``I'm confident we will eventually get there, but our shoes will be wearing thin by the time we arrive.''

Conferees on the budget bills before Congress this week will be dealing with non-negotiable demands by a half-dozen Senate moderates who have the numbers to defeat a conference report they don't like. The farm-state bloc in the House is also pivotal.

A presidential veto awaits virtually any compromise bill the conference produces. Still, its report is crucial because it will be ``the foundation for our negotiations with President Clinton,'' said Rep. Steve Gunderson, R-Wis.

Among the issues House and Senate GOP leaders have kicked to conference:

The $500-per-child income tax credit. GOP House members are concerned about giving that full credit to households with annual incomes as high as $200,000. The Senate bill would cap it at $110,000.

Cutbacks in the earned income tax credit for the working poor. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said Senate leaders offered ``assurances'' that in conference they would accept the House position - cuts of $23 billion over seven years, as opposed to the Senate's $42 billion.

Farm programs. Farm-state GOP representatives are upset by House plans to phase out subsidies and end dairy price regulation.

Medicaid. Both the House and the Senate were adding billions to quiet an uproar over the distribution of a new grant to states to replace the federal program. Boehner said the formula would be re-examined in conference.

Republican moderates won a raft of concessions Thursday from Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., most of them scheduled to come up as floor amendments. Some lawmakers said their support for a conference report hinged on the provisions emerging intact from conference.

One key change was added support for the federal student loan program, revising an initial cut of $10 billion to $4.1 billion. ``We don't want to come out of conference with less than what we go in with on the Senate side. That's essential,'' Snowe said.

Another ``bottom-line issue,'' according to Snowe and Sen. William Cohen, R-Maine, is continued federal regulation of nursing homes. Dole agreed to restore the federal system, which was axed in the House bill.

Senate moderates are confident their views will prevail in conference for the simple reason that their votes are critical in a body their party controls 53-46. To pass a conference report likely to get zero Democratic votes, Snowe said, ``They need to accommodate us. That's the reality.''