PRESIDENTS ALONE DON'T CAUSE DEFICITS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 10, 1993                   TAG: 9302100368
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
PRESIDENTS ALONE DON'T CAUSE DEFICITS
I TAKE ISSUE with George Stultz and others who have assigned total blame for the $4.3 trillion national debt to Presidents Reagan and Bush.
Under Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution, "No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law . . . " In other words, not a penny may be spent by the federal government without congressional authorization.
The chief cause of the federal deficit is the momentum of entitlement programs enacted by Democratic Congresses and signed by presidents of both political parties over the past 20 years. Ballooning interest payments to service earlier debt have made matters worse.
The entitlement programs that have been enacted have benefited many Americans, and these programs are still widely supported by a majority of voters. As Ross Perot pointed out during the presidential campaign, we all will have to make sacrifices if the deficit is to be reduced, let alone eliminated. Until we admit that we are the problem, the lawmakers of both political parties will continue to mortgage our children's future. JEFFREY L. BROWN BLACKSBURG

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB