Diary Entry - 04/28/1982
Key Facts
President Reagan meets with Democratic Senate leadership to hash out differences on the budget.
President Reagan hosts a briefing luncheon with Chief Executive Officers of major US corporations on Caribbean Basin Initiatives.
The big thing today was a meeting with Tip, Howard Bohling, Jim Wright, Jim B., Ed M., Don R. & Dave S. the result of my call to Tip. The “gang of 17” had come fairly close together on the budget and revenue package. Their combination of cuts and revenue increases came to $60 bil. on the R. side to $35 bil. on the D. side. It should have been straight haggling especially since our original budget package called for $10 bil. I didn’t try to start bargaining from that figure but started at the $60 bil. Three hours later we’d gotten nowhere. Finally I said I’ll split the difference with you and they refused that. Meeting over.
