U.S. HOUSE BUDGET WRITING PROCESS COLLAPSES
Rep William Gray (D-Pa), Chairman of
the House Budget Committee, abruptly canceled the committee's
budget writing process when Republican members said they would
continue a vote strike begun yesterday.
    "I'm not going to continue a markup in which my Republican
colleagues won't participate," Gray told reporters.
    He said he asked Republicans to tell him by Monday whether
they would vote in future open sessions.
    If they choose not to, he threatened to again draft a
budget behind closed doors with only Democrats present, as had
been done the previous two years.
    "If they do not want to participate in an open process ...
then I will make a decision as to how the Democrats will
proceed," Gray said.
    "If there is not possibility of Republican participation, I
will go back to what we've done in the past," he said.
    Republicans yesterday had voted "present" in a series of
committee votes on fiscal 1988 defense spending.
    The Republicans had said they were protesting the
Democrats' failure to present alternatives to President
Reagan's budget.
 Reuter
