A feud among Democrats andRepublicans persisted at the House Budget Committee, stalling
the writing of a fiscal 1988 U.S. budget plan.
    Republicans failed to appear at a drafting session called
by Democratic committee chairman William Gray as a make-up
meeting to end bickering that has delayed budget activity  for
a week and threatens the ability of Congress meeting an April
15 deadline for completing the deficit-cutting budget.
    Republicans told Gray yesterday they would appear today and
participate if the meeting was held behind closed doors.

    He said the Republicans were prepared to make a "good faith"
effort to cooperate if the budget deliberations were held
behind closed doors and not in public as is the normal
procedure.
    However, they failed to appear today and Gray said he had
been told they wanted House Speaker Jim Wright to answer a
series of budget questions posed by House Republican leader Bob
Michel before they would cooperate in budget matters.
     The budget feuding led the Washington Post today to
editorialize that it was childish, similar to an eraser fight
among fourth grade students.
 Reuter
