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

DATE: SUNDAY, August 8, 1993                   TAG: 9308080078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

CLINTON: BUDGET PLAN ONLY A START

President Clinton, described by aides as "giddy" in the wake of the dramatic 51-50 Senate vote to approve his economic package, made overtures Saturday to his Republican adversaries - and indicated his budget is just the beginning of an ambitious legislative agenda.

"This plan is an urgent step," the president said in his weekly radio address. "But I want to emphasize, it is only the first step."

The president then ticked off a number of sweeping changes in American life he wants to bring about:

Replacing the welfare system with one that rewards work.

Revamping the nation's health-care system. White House budget director Leon Panetta said Clinton's plan would be unveiled next month.

Unleashing Vice President Al Gore's task force on "reinventing government," which the president said would make the federal government "leaner, smarter and more efficient."

Also on the horizon, Panetta said in an interview, is the North American Free Trade Agreement. "It's a pretty full agenda for the fall," Panetta said.

Savoring the moment, Clinton delivered his radio address in an Oval Office jammed with cheerful White House aides and their relatives. "It's a bright, sunny day in Washington - in more ways than one," he said. "The political fog that has surrounded this town for so long is at long last lifting."

Clinton knows he will need Republican votes for health care and his other major initiatives. All 44 Republicans in the Senate and all 175 in the House voted against his budget on all four roll call votes. Saturday, the president tried to appeal to these Republicans.

"Now . . . it's time for all of us to stand together - and that includes those who opposed my plan on Capitol Hill," the president said. "I say to those critics, we must now put aside bitterness and rancor, move beyond partisanship and work together to give the country we all love the new direction it needs."

But it might take take more than words to bring Republicans into the fold. Rep. Jim Lightfoot, an Iowa Republican chosen to deliver this week's Republican response to Clinton, gave a blistering counterattack in which he denounced the president for "strong-arm tactics, back-room deals, buying votes with threats and promises, unethical and highly questionable business practices in the operation of the White House and a disregard for the opinions of the majority of Americans."

"We do not accept your form of change," Lightfoot said.

by CNB