Busch optimistic on budget agreement

House Speaker Michael E. Busch said Friday morning that negotiations between the House and Senate are "in good shape" and that the General Assembly should have no trouble wrapping uo work on a balanced budget before its schedulked adjournment Monday.

In a brief interview, Busch said the House-Senate conference committees on the budget package will resume work after Friday morning's floor session and that the two sides are getting within range of a settlement after a Senate proposal Thursday night that split the difference between the chambers on how to raise taxes.

The speaker, an Annapolis Democrat, said the House will probably not accept the Senate offer outright but would make its own proposal to make the plan a little fairer. He said the conferees would likely have a final budget plan on the floor of the two chambers Monday morning, but he foresaw no difficulty getting it passed that day, when the legislature ends its 90-day session at midnight.