OKLAHOMA CITY - Sen. Jim Inhofe and other Republican freshmen senators chided President Bill Clinton Thursday for vetoing the budget bill passed by both houses of Congress.
"Everything the president campaigned on ... the balanced budget act, less government, welfare reform, all of it was right here in this volume," Inhofe said, brandishing a bound copy of the budget bill. "We passed it, he vetoed it."
Inhofe, the president of the 11-member freshmen class of the Senate, stopped briefly in Oklahoma City midway through a nine-city tour to plug the Republican budget plan. He appeared Thursday with fellow freshmen Bill Frist, R-Tenn., Rod Grams, R-Minn., and Craig Thomas, R-Wyo.
The president and congressional Republicans remain divided over the level of Medicare and Medicaid savings, the extent of a tax cut and Republican plans to enact fundamental changes in the federal health and welfare systems.
On Thursday, Clinton told reporters, "my door is open. It is open. It will stay open. I am committed to continue working with them until we get the job done."
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., has said that a budget agreement may have to wait until next January when Republicans could hope for a presidential victory and an even stronger presence in Congress.
The freshman senators said the budget impasse comes from Clinton's refusal to give ground.
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