Democratic and Republican negotiators agreed on the bill's policy objectives three weeks ago, although some Democrats said they were displeased with the final product.

Mr. Mazzoli said the vote placed Democratic negotiators in a powerful position.

He thanked Democratic negotiators as well as their Republican counterparts.

Republican and Democratic negotiators acknowledge that spending in these programs must be reduced if they want to achieve significant long-term deficit reduction.

The two men have remained close, and their bond may be critical in holding the rest of the Democratic negotiators together.

Democratic and Republican negotiators have held five private meetings in the last several weeks looking for a compromise on their rival finance bills.

Never mind that Democratic negotiators accepted these levies, too.

Democratic negotiators from the House and the Senate today proposed a deficit-reducing package intended to save about $31 billion in the current fiscal year.

By mid-January, Democratic negotiators had nearly reached agreement on melding the two bills into one.

Pointing to the figures, Democratic negotiators would rail at the Republicans.