Democrats began muscling their deficit-reduction plan through the House and Senate budget committees Wednesday, overwhelming resistance by outnumbered Republicans.

Democrats hoped to whisk the package, which largely reflects President Clinton's economic priorities, through the House and Senate next week."In large measure, it moves the president's bold new agenda forward," said Rep. Martin Olav Sabo, D-Minn., chairman of the budget panel. "I believe it will have broad support among my colleagues in Congress, and most importantly, I expect it will have the support of the American people."

Sabo spoke as his committee and its Senate counterpart began debating similar $1.5 trillion spending plans for next year containing even deeper cuts in the deficit than Clinton proposed last month.

The House Budget Committee package would add $62 billion in spending cuts over five years to Clinton's plan. The Senate Budget Committee considered a Democratic measure that would boost the president's planned cut by $96 billion.

Clinton seemed to endorse both plans Tuesday, although he warned against cutting any further, saying it might harm the economic recovery.

But Republicans on the House Budget Committee, who released a competing package of their own, complained that Clinton and the Democrats offered no details about where their $112 billion in five-year defense cuts would come.

The full House and Senate each planned votes next week on their budgets, which set guidelines for tax and spending changes that will be enacted in later bills.

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