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neN O" ic"igan"Dai"y - Wenesay, September 13, 19 -
Pres., GOP leaders consider
plan to avert fiscal impasse

~"

Los Angeles Times #
WASH INGTON - President
Clinton and Republican congressional
leaders agreed yesterday to consider a
short-term spending bill to keep the
government running if they failto agree
to a new federal budget by the start of
the fiscal year on Oct. 1.
Such a bill would avert what has
come to be known as a "train wreck" -
a fiscal impasse during which most of
the federal government would have to
stop operating until agreement was
reached.
Clinton, House Speaker Newt
Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Senate Majority
Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) did not agree
on the size or duration of a temporary
spending bill - a "continuing resolu-
tion," in federal budget jargon - but
agreed for the first time that it was the
most likely way to avoid a messy fiscal
crisis.
"We do have different priorities, but
I think we can reach an agreement if
we work on it," Clinton said as he
opened a meeting with both Republi-
can and Democratic congressional
leaders in the Cabinet Room of the
White House.
"We don't want any stoppage; we
don't want to lay off government em-

ployees," Gingrich told reporters after
the hourlong meeting. "I wouldn't be
surprised to see a very short-term" stop-
gap resolution.
In a gesture toward compromise,
Clinton proposed a temporary spend-
We do have
different
prioties, but I
think we can reach
an agreement Nf
we work on it.
-- President Clinton
ing bill to meet Republican budget-cut
targets - but also allow the adminis-
tration to preserve some programs the
GOP wants to abolish.
Gingrich and Dole did not take up
that offer, saying they want to pass as
much of their detailed budget-cutting
program as possible by Oct. 1.
But they said they would consider a

continuing resolution to cover any-
thing they don't complete by that dead-
line.
"Our goal is to get as much work
done as possible on appropriations,"
Gingrich said. "We'll see what happens
on Oct. 1."
"We may get lucky," Dole added.
Accordingto Republicans and Demo-
crats who attended the meeting, one
increasingly probable scenario is this:
By Oct. 1, Congress passes most of the
13 appropriations bills that provide
spending for government operations;
Clinton signs most of them, but vetoes
two or three; and Congress passes a
continuing resolution to cover the bills
he vetoed, allowing debate on those
issues to go on.
Clinton and Dole also agreed on an-
other issue: More worrisome than- a
budget "train wreck" is the prospect
that conservative Republicans in the
House might block an extension of the
federal debt ceiling in November, po-
tentially forcing the government to de-
fault on some loans.
Gingrich, whose most fervent fol-
lowers have said they will block addi-
tional federal borrowing, did not re-
spond when a reporter asked how he
planned to solve the apparent impasse.

AP PHOTO
Retired General Colin Powell says the time may be right for a third political party to represent the nation's "sensible center."
Powells btour attracts
attention,, spak political debate

Los Angeles Times
NEW YORK-The four-star launch-
ing this week of retired Gen. Colin
Powell's memoirs may move this
season'spresidential politics onto a new
battleground.
With 950,000 copies of Powell's
book, "My American Journey," sched-
uled to appear in bookstores this week-
end, some of the nation's top political
journalists havebeen scramblingto read
the 613-page work and interview its
famous author. They have been nudg-
ing and scooping each other in daily
skirmishes over Powell tidbits and giv-
ing the general and his autobiography
front page headlines, top radio news
and prime-time television spots.
Powell has not announced that he is
running for President. Technically, he
is only selling a book. But tacticians
from other political camps can't help
but notice how many of the nation's
cameras and tape recorders are now
aimed at Powell.
So is the book tour the political gim-
mick for 1996, the way the talk show
circuit was in 1992?
"Ih the media age, it may be that
Colin Powell isnot goingtoNew Hamp-
shire; he's publishing a book," says
Howard Fineman of Newsweek.
Jiouse Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-
Gas), of course, is another example of a
politician who has tried to ride the book
ciripit this pre-presidential season. Sen.
Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) has redone the
introduction to his 1976 basketball mem-

oir and may be taking it on the road if he
takes a shot at the presidency. Texas
billionaire Ross Perot has a book on
Medicare that follows him wherever he
speaks and even former Vice President
Dan Quayle is said to be working on a
manuscript that could be just the thing
for clarifying his ideas and values.
Previous political books were di-
gested by the media as merely one slice
of a candidate's background. Powell's
book tour, by contrast, has the feel of a
campaign launch. The tour "is a sort of
coming out party for me," Powell told
Time magazine.
In an interview with Barbara Walters,
which ABC News released in part Mon-
day, Powell said he supports a woman's
right to have an abortion, although he
would "hope she would carry the child
to term and then put the child up for
adoption;" that he "benefited from af-
firmative action" but dislikes quotas;
that he supports gun control, although
he owns guns, himself, and that he
opposes organized prayer in schools
but supports moments of silence.
Not revealing any political plans ap-
pears to be part of the Powell strategy.
If he announces he would run, candi-
date Powell immediately wouldbecome
a target for investigative reporters who
ferret out embarrassing details in a po-
tential President's background. If he
says he isn't in the race, the general
could become just another old soldier
trotting around the country selling war
stories.

Asked whether Random House ad-
vised Powell to keep his presidential
plans a mystery, Evans said he told the
general: "I can't control your life, but
from my point of view, I'd rather this
not be seen as a political book and not
be a platform for public office."
Recognizing they had an increasingly
"hot" author, Random House last month
also asked a number of those asking for
advance copies of the book to sign
elaborate confidentiality agreements
prohibiting reporters from confirming
any part of the manuscript with other
sources or from disclosing "either the
terms or the fact" of the agreement.
Some reporters balked, particularly
at efforts to stop them from checking
the facts or some of Powell's assertions
in the book.
After extended negotiations with
Random House last week, both the Los
Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal
late last week were promised books in
advance and interviews with the gen-
eral. Both newspapers agreed to delay
talking to sources until Sept. I1, but
told Random House they would not
keep the agreement secret and would
check the book's assertions before pub-
lishing their stories.
The full range of orchestration by
Random House and Powell has already
hit a few sour notes. Time originally
bought the first rights to publish ex-
cerpts starting Sunday, but Newsweek
found a bootleg copy of the book and
published a cover story a week early.

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