MILESTONE BUDGET PASSES

The Senate passed theGOP's landmark planto balance the budget by 2002 (by a vote of 57-42), after relentlessly shooting down two dozen Democratic amendments designed to protect Medicare, national parks, education and other GOP targets. "We will finally begin tounpile the deficits," said Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole. "We will finally begin to speak for the future." The GOP package promises $958 billion in savings -- chiefly from Medicare, Medicaid and the elimination of 181 agencies and programs, from the Commerce Department to the Opera-Musical Theater Advisory Panel. Notably absent: $350 billion in tax cuts that more aggressive House Republicans approved last week. Still, Karen Tumulty, TIME congressional correspondent, says some tax breaks may surface after House and Senate negotiators have it out, in part because Dole has a warm spot for the idea, which would play well on the presidential campaign trail.