Administration expresses frustration over budget progress

By Kelly Wallace/CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House renewed its call Saturday for Congress to wrap up its work on remaining budget bills, and expressed frustration at the lack of progress on negotiations so far this weekend.

"Unfortunately, it looks like Congress is going to squander another day without getting any substantial work done," said White House Press Secretary Jake Siewert.

He said the president's budget team, including Budget Director Jack Lew who rarely works Saturdays because he is an Orthodox Jew, met for 45 minutes Saturday morning with White House Chief of Staff John Podesta.

The president has been kept up to date on Congress' "progress or lack of it," Siewert said.

"We are available to work, we are available to negotiate and we are waiting to hear back from Congress on whether they are willing to make some changes" on the remaining spending and tax bills, Siewert said.

But Republican lawmakers charge the president with playing election-year politics, and said there is no need to keep the entire House and Senate in session over the weekend when only a limited number of lawmakers actually do the negotiating with White House officials.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., accused the president of "humiliating" the Congress.

Clinton has said he will sign emergency measures to keep the government running one day at a time. That required lawmakers to head to the House and Senate floors Saturday morning, where they passed another continuing resolution, which keeps the government running through midnight Sunday.

The White House defended its approach, and said its goal is to get the budget work done.

Two of the 13 spending bills needed to fund the government have not been resolved. Disagreements include debates over how many illegal immigrants should be granted amnesty, and who should decide how to spend education dollars.

Also at issue is a $240 billion tax-cut bill, which increases tax-free contributions to IRAs and 401K plans, raises the minimum wage by $1 per hour and restores $30 billion to Medicare providers.

The president and Democrats, while supportive of many of the provisions, argue the tax bill provides too much money to HMOs at the expense of other health-care providers, and does not include enough for school construction and long-term health-care coverage.