Conable sees House budget OK

Barber B. Conable Jr., the highly influential ranking minority member of the House Ways and Means Committee, predicts a Reagan-endorsed budget will be passed by the House this week, Monitor correspondent Godfrey Sperling Jr. reports.

Mr. Conable said that the Michel-Latta proposal, with some revision, will pass, but that its effect will be largely ''symbolic'' -- that with it there is no assurance of a ''meaningful follow-through'' by Congress.

Mr. Conable said he thinks the Democrats will now let President Reagan have his budget, simply because they don't want to appear in the eyes of voters as obstructionists to Mr. Reagan's efforts to turn the economy around.

The Republican congressman from New York State says the Democrats, by being in a position to say the President got what he wanted with the budget, will then be able to blame Mr. Reagan if the economy gets worse.

Congress's agreement on a budget would not necessarily buoy the economy. It would be a signal, but one that might be ignored by the business community.

Here a reporter, talking to Mr. Conable at a breakfast meeting with news people, asked: ''Then, from a substantive standpoint, the putting together of a budget might be in vain?'' The congressman said, ''Yes.''