January 31, 1992

The local economy may be a mess, crime a constant threat and living costs still ruinous, but one of New York City's consolations has been some of the nation's kinder prices for beer. Now, the nation's largest beer producer is pitted against the city's independent beer distributors in a battle whose outcome, the distributors and city officials say, could create a wholesaling monopoly and raise prices by a dollar or more a case. Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc., which supplies more than half of the city's beer, added a dollar a case on Monday to wholesale prices statewide on its most popular brands. The company will issue rebates only to those retailers who buy all their Budweiser and other company brands directly from the company's four franchised wholesalers.

Mayor David N. Dinkins put forward an austere $29.4 billion spending plan yesterday that called for heavy cuts for all city agencies except the Police Department in the next fiscal year while holding the line on property taxes through 1996. "I won't be glib," he said. "This plan does not contain much good news for New Yorkers in the short run. Someday I hope to be a good-news Mayor, presiding over good economic times."

Weighing the Budget The Administration will firmly resist Congressional efforts to use savings from the military budget to pay for domestic programs, as many Democrats want, Bush's budget director said. [ A14. ] Builders reacted with enthusiasm to Bush's proposal to stimulate housing sales. [ A14. ] Throughout the real estate industry, hopes rose that Congress would adopt a tax change. [ A14. ]

Stripped of its most controversial provisions, the National Energy Strategy proposed by President Bush during the Persian Gulf crisis seems likely to pass this year, according to lawmakers, energy company executives and others. The Senate version of the bill has been introduced again, minus the provisions on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and on stricter gasoline mileage standards for new cars, and may reach the floor as early as Monday.

These are jittery days for the Democrats, as they monitor the vital signs of Gov. Bill Clinton's campaign and watch the horizon for signs of a new candidate. One Democrat on Capitol Hill described it as "CNN emotions," the unending ripples of political anxiety in the party since a supermarket tabloid leveled accusations that Mr. Clinton conducted a 12-year affair with a cabaret singer.