NATION : Mitchell Calls for Deficit ‘Resolve’

WASHINGTON —  Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell told governors concerned about the budget today that Congress and President Bush “have got to summon the resolve” to achieve significant reductions in the federal deficit this year.

Facing questioning about the nation’s “fiscal insanity” at a gathering of the nation’s governors, Mitchell (D-Me.) said he had just left a meeting with Bush where they “reaffirmed this morning our commitment to a cooperative effort on the budget” and other areas. “The situation has reached a stage that is so critical--the events of recent weeks, increases in interest rates, threaten us with being just consumed with interest payments on the debt--that we’ve got to summon the resolve to do it,” Mitchell said.