THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 19, 1995 TAG: 9512190012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
The closer Republicans and Democrats get to a budget deal, the less willing to budge they get. Yet many people think they should just do it.
New forecasts from the Congressional Budget Office have narrowed the gap between the two sides. They are now separated by only $300 billion over seven years. That's a lot of money, but only $40 billion annually out of a $1.6 trillion budget, less than 3 percent.
Eliminating the Republican tax cut is one way to solve the problem. So is a combination of deeper cuts in corporate welfare and defense, plus less generous cost-of-living adjustments for entitlements. A middle ground with each side giving up some provisions they favor is easy to see shimmering in the distance. But if the two sides won't talk, it will remain a mirage.
President Clinton has already conceded a lot of points dangerous for a Democrat. He's essentially agreed to welfare reform and a substantial squeeze on Medicare. He wants some minimum requirements codified before turning Medicaid over to the states. But going any further is not going to be easy for him and he keeps trying to finesse the problem by slipping out of the straitjacket of CBO fiscal assumptions.
In their public rhetoric, Republicans are standing fast; but it's clear they are prepared to whittle their $245 billion tax cut. They may also have to trade deeper cuts in corporate welfare for a less enthusiastic assault on the Earned Income Tax Credit. The program to encourage the working poor to keep working has been abused, but that argues the need to reform it, not wring its neck.
Behind all the posturing are some disquieting facts. The deals presently on the table cut taxes immediately but save the hardest entitlement cuts until late in the seven-year process. That's an invitation to later Congresses to renege and a sure way to increase the national debt another trillion or more. And any deal of the magnitude proposed merely puts off the day of reckoning on entitlements. A real fix will still be required.
One reason a deal is stalled so close to the finish line is a reluctance by each side to be the one that blinks. Clinton can't be seen to cave on entitlements or the liberal wing of the Democratic party might never forgive him. On the right, tax cut-tax break conservatives are equally adamant about making no compromise.
But a backlash is building. Centrist Democrats and Republicans appear increasingly uncomfortable with the entrenched positions of party leaders and might seek a separate peace.
They are being egged on by groups like the Concord Coalition of former senators Paul Tsongas and Warren Rudman and by Perot partisans. Polls suggest a substantial part of the public shares their belief that finding common ground on the deficit is more important than seeking partisan advantage. So both sides are feeling pressure from the center for a deal that's less than they'd hoped for. Yielding to that pressure would be a shrewd move.
A Washington adage says the best is the enemy of the good. If the two sides hold out for everything they want, they risk getting nothing. A deal is close. A deal should be made. It won't be ideal, but it won't be the end of the process either. Any deal is only a first step toward getting the federal government's fiscal house in order, but a step that must be taken. by CNB