January 25, 1996

Congressional Republicans said today that they would abandon the national debt as a weapon against President Clinton if he would support modest budget and tax cuts as a "down payment" on a balanced budget. President Clinton welcomed their proposal. Michael D. McCurry, his press secretary, said Mr. Clinton told Speaker Newt Gingrich in a telephone conversation that he was "intrigued" with the suggestion and arranged for aides from both sides to meet on Thursday. The President told a campaign audience in Louisville, Ky., that he and Mr. Gingrich had a "good conversation."

On the heels of recent reports of weakness in the state's job and housing markets, a state official said yesterday that she would speed the release of $200 million to "prime the pump and create jobs in the housing market." A spokesman for Harriet Derman, the state Community Affairs Commissioner, said the money, part of a $700 million housing package previously announced by Governor Whitman, should be "on the street" by April. Patrick O'Keefe, executive vice president of the New Jersey Builders Association, praised the effort to move money faster to home buyers and builders. But he also said, "I think more important than announcing and reannouncing money, we need attention to regulatory reform."

Gov. Christine Todd Whitman told a group of mayors yesterday that it was too soon to relax efforts to make government "smarter and leaner." Mrs. Whitman, who is to release her new budget on Saturday, was careful not to steal her own thunder yesterday. But even without specifics, The Associated Press said, mayors got the message: don't expect more aid from Trenton.

After a five-year standoff, Iraq's willingness to hold talks with the United Nations about selling oil for the purchase of food has raised prospects for an accord this year. But it could also provoke a sustained decline in oil prices, industry executives and analysts said today. An expected surge in the supplies of crude oil would create havoc in world markets and within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, some experts say.

In kitchens, coffee shops and nursing homes across the nation, people watched as President Clinton delivered his State of the Union Message on Tuesday, and many found that they liked what they heard, especially when Mr. Clinton talked about education and cultural values. "I haven't been too happy with Clinton," said one of those who listened in Chicago, Patrick O'Malley, a 39-year-old security guard. "But I've got to tell you, I liked what I heard about telling men to take care of their kids, and getting tough on crime and all that."