COMPROMISE BUDGET SQUEAKS PAST GOP'S REBELS IN HOUSE.

Byline: Associated Press 

The House narrowly approved a budget Wednesday night after Republican leaders scrambled for two days to quell an unexpected rebellion by freshmen and conservatives.

The 216-211 vote averted an embarrassing public repudiation of GOP leaders by dissidents objecting to a temporary deficit increase before eliminating federal deficits by 2002 in the budget plan.

Four Democrats voted with the Republican leaders while 19 Republicans opposed the budget.

GOP leaders held the vote open several extra minutes as House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., circulated on the floor and personally appealed to conservatives for support.

Few of the freshmen spoke on the floor. But, in an emotional appeal to defy the leadership, freshman Rep. Mark Neumann, R-Wis., pleaded with Republicans not to repeat the mistakes of past Congresses in promising deficit reduction in the future while allowing deficits to rise in the present.

``I came to this city because I knew the Congresses had to be different if we were actually going to balance the budget,'' he said. ``I ask my colleagues to have the courage of their convictions.''

Gingrich and other leaders listened to their complaints for nearly two hours Tuesday night, in a room without air conditioning, after postponing a scheduled vote. Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio, met with them for an additional hour Wednesday morning. GOP leaders then spent the rest of the afternoon rounding up votes.

The budget resolution, representing a compromise of plans passed separately last month by the House and Senate, would trim spending by $702 billion over six years, allow a tax cut of $122 billion and produce a $5 billion surplus in 2002. The spending restraints are tougher and the tax cut larger than President Clinton wants.

But it projects increased deficits of $153 billion in 1997 and $147 billion in 1998, up from a deficit between $144 billion and $130 billion in 1996, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The Senate planned its vote today.

Most of the freshmen and conservatives last month supported the House version of the budget, which also temporarily increased the deficit but not by as much. It had red ink of $148 billion in 1997 and $143 billion in 1998.

GOP dissidents - some facing difficult re-election battles - said they objected to roughly $4 billion in annually approved domestic spending added by the House-Senate compromise. They dismissed pressure from Senate Republicans to moderate their views.

``The poll numbers that I see, particularly in battleground states, show that we're running ahead of the rest of the party,'' said Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind.

Democrats watched the Republican disarray with glee.

``The Republican leadership has twisted enough arms and many . . . freshmen will support a budget that does exactly what they promised they would not do when they came to Washington, and that was to increase the deficit,'' said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. ``What hypocrisy!''