WASHINGTON--House and Senate leaders struck an extraordinary budget agreement on yesterday that would postpone until later this year a resolution of the internal Republican battle over how deeply to cut taxes.

They also tried resolving 11th-hour disputes over a separate package providing nearly 80 billion for initial costs of the Iraq war and its aftermath plus other efforts to combat terrorism around the globe.

The budget compromise--which apparently won crucial support from moderate GOP senators--removed the last major obstacle to congressional passage this week of a 2.2 trillion tax-and-spending plan for 2004. Leaders also wanted to send President Bush the war spending bill this week.

"It's done with. I just signed the report," said Senate Budget Committee member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, referring to the official document spelling out the compromise that lawmakers will vote on.

The fiscal blueprint would let the House pass a tax-cutting bill in coming weeks costing 550 billion through 2013, while the Senate's price tag would be 350 billion. The two chambers would have to approve a bill with a common number before shipping it to Bush for his signature.

The agreement seemed to spell the end of the full 726 billion package Bush proposed in January as a major pillar of his domestic agenda. He said his plan --which would end taxes individuals pay on corporate dividends and accelerate scheduled income tax cuts--would revitalize the listless economy.

Congressional aides and private analysts said they believed a final congressional budget had never before left the tax number undecided. The ambivalence underscored an unresolved feud between GOP conservatives who say a larger tax cut would be a boon to the economy, and moderates who say it would worsen federal deficits expected to approach 400 billion this year.