LET'S UNMAKE A DEAL

By JAMES CARNEY AND JOHN F. DICKERSON

If it were just up to White House and Republican negotiators, there might already be a budget deal. Agreement was close enough last week that a secret rendezvous was arranged between White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles, House Budget Committee chairman John Kasich and Speaker Newt Gingrich to discuss a final sticking point: whether it was possible to legislate a change in the Consumer Price Index, freeing up billions of extra dollars to pay for G.O.P. tax cuts and Democratic spending programs. Kasich and Bowles argued in favor, with Bowles suggesting that President Clinton's support would neutralize criticism from liberal Democrats, unions and senior citizens, for whom a CPI change would mean smaller annual increases in their Social Security checks. But Gingrich wasn't buying. He and other House G.O.P. leaders consider a CPI fix "political suicide," as one put it. But the White House wants to make a deal with Gingrich, who they think may prove a more durable budget ally than House Democratic leaders. Meeting with Democratic brethren last week, the President shared none of the details of the emerging agreement, but promised he wouldn't seal a deal without support from at least half of all congressional Democrats. The message was double-edged and not very reassuring. As a participant said, "The President is willing to split his party in half just to get a deal."

--By James Carney and John F. Dickerson