Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 3, 1993 TAG: 9303030388
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TOM WEBB
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
POLITICAL PIE-THROWING
FOR POLITICAL pie-throwing fans, here are some sound bites from last week in Washington, home of the budget deficit.Senate Republican leader Bob Dole kicked off the week complaining about President Clinton's economic proposal, which he found too heavy on taxes and too light on spending cuts.
"He's taxing everybody," said the Kansas Republican. "It's a taxing administration."
Dole made his charge Sunday, when the week was just 11 hours old. But during those 11 hours the federal deficit had already grown by $419 million.
On Monday, Clinton was campaigning for his package of spending cuts and tax increases to cut the deficit. He said his package provided specific numbers, and challenged his critics to provide the same.
By then, 36 hours into the week, the federal deficit had climbed to $1.311 billion.
On Tuesday, Dole made it clear that neither he nor his party were about to recommend any specific spending cuts. He did, however, mock "Clinton's Tricky Tax Bill."
"We want to keep the debate on the Clinton program," Dole said. "It's his program, and it's not our strategy to rush right out within a week and say, `Here's another whole new plan and let's let all the liberal media take out after our plan.' "
As Dole spoke, the federal debt had grown by $2.14 billion since the start of the week.
On Wednesday, Clinton shot back at Dole's criticism.
"The Senate minority leader can say that, but he was here during the last 12 years when other presidents and the Congress quadrupled the national debt. I'm trying to do something about it, and turn it around and go in the opposite direction."
White House spokesman George Stephanopoulos was even more biting: "The package isn't in trouble, because there's no alternative to the package - least of all from Sen. Dole and his colleagues in the Senate. They have done a good job of carping and whining, but they can't come up with any alternatives."
By then, the week's flow of red ink had risen to $3.06 billion.
On Thursday, Dole hit the Senate floor to slam the White House as well as the Washington Post, which provoked Dole's ire for inviting Republicans to fax in their specific budget-cutting ideas. Dole again charged that the Clinton package was fuzzy in detail and heavy on taxes. And he suggested that Republicans "will be responsible, as we have been in the past."
Then Dole added, "A word of advice to the communications department at the White House: They ought to calm down, go out for a weekend, have a diet Coke, enjoy yourself."
At that point Thursday, the federal budget deficit had grown $3.93 billion for the week.
All told, during the week's political tug of war, the federal budget deficit grew by $6,121,643,500 - give or take a few hundred million dollars.
Despite the public bickering, both Democrat Clinton and Republican Dole insist they're willing to work together to craft a deficit-reduction plan for the country.
In the meantime, the deficit is still growing.