FORGET THE HONEYMOON

So much for the new commitment to a budget deal. A clearly frustrated President Clinton cancelled a meeting with House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole Wednesday after Republican House members refused to pass a continuing resolution to end the partial government shutdown unless Clinton agreed to cuts in Medicare and Medicaid. "Those members want to force [the government] to stay closed until I accept their deep and harmful cuts," the President said. Cracks sprung up in the fragile bipartisan consensus hours after a Tuesday meeting that Clinton, Dole and Gingrich characterized as positive when Vice President Al Gore contradicted the Dole-Gingrich account of what had transpired. Most important, while the Republican leaders said that they agreed with Clinton to reach a deal by New Year's Eve, Gore said that was only a goal. The shutdown is beginning to bite. White House spokesman Mike McCurry said that 3.3 million veterans and their survivors will not receive their benefits payments on time unless a stopgap spending bill is passed by Thursday. McCurry also said that another 4.7 million families would not "receive income support," unless an a spending bill is in place by Friday.