DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: As the presidential election plays out in the courts for now, the partisan rhetoric in Congress appears to be heating up already. Let's check in with our congressional correspondent Chris Black in the nation's capital. Chris, hello.</s>CHRIS BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn. The bipartisan congressional leadership is expected to go back to the White House in a few hours to meet, for a second time this week, with President Clinton, to see if they can finish up the unfinished business of the 106th Congress, which includes finally finishing a budget. Believe it or not, the House of Representatives will be approving an 18th temporary spending bill today, to keep the government in operation at least until midnight Friday. Now, the bipartisan congressional leaders thought they were well on the way to cutting a deal with the White House early this week after speaker Dennis Hastert and majority leader Trent Lott went down to the White House on Monday. But they hit a snag: A Republican whip, Tom DeLay, who's the leader of the most conservative Republicans in the House, objected. He said he wants government spending, essentially, to be frozen at last year's levels, and they would do this by passing a one-year temporary spending bill. Well, Republicans on both sides of Capitol Hill say that's a non-starter, but did cause a delay in these final budget agreements. After a meeting this morning in Dennis Hastert's office, Republicans say they will ask the White House to cut back on spending for labor and health and human services -- it's one of the biggest spending bills. And they also say they will pull out the Medicare reimbursement rates increase, which is something that, again, on both sides of the aisle, they feel is very important. And they do also say that the $240 billion tax cut bill, which includes the minimum wage increase, is definitely dead for this year -- Daryn.</s>KAGAN: The budget bickering goes on. Chris Black covering that for us on Capitol Hill, Chris, thank you.
Election 2000: Partisan Rhetoric in Congress Heating Up, Especially Over Budget