Congress Nears Modest Accord on the Budget

By JONATHAN WEISMAN, NYT

WASHINGTON — House and Senate negotiators on Thursday closed in on a budget deal that, while modest in scope, could break the cycle of fiscal crises and brinkmanship that has hampered the economic recovery and driven public opinion of Congress to an all-time low.

But the leaders of the House and Senate budget committees — Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, and Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington — encountered last-minute resistance from House Democratic leaders who said any deal should be accompanied by an extension of expiring unemployment benefits for 1.3 million workers.

“This isn’t interparty bickering,” said Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House minority leader. “This is a major policy disagreement.”

It was not clear on Thursday how serious a threat the demand posed to a deal largely worked out by Mr. Ryan and Ms. Murray alone. With conservative Republicans in the House likely to balk, Democratic votes will be needed to pass an agreement, and Democrats have not said whether they will make their support contingent on an extension of benefits.

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