PLAN GIVES, TAKES ACROSS COUNTRY

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

DATE: THURSDAY, February 18, 1993                   TAG: 9302180129
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
PLAN GIVES, TAKES ACROSS COUNTRY
President Clinton, in putting forward the largest deficit-reduction package in history, proposed to change the face of government in hundreds of ways, both large and small.
His 150 specific cuts in government programs would spread the pain across the population.
All the cuts are part of an effort to trim the deficit by $493 billion over four years. More than half of that amount will come from increased taxes on the wealthy and a new energy tax that would raise consumers' costs for gasoline, home heating oil, natural gas and electricity.
Middle-class Americans who benefit from federal programs or who work for the federal government also would feel the pinch.
Clinton proposes cutting government spending by $212 billion over four years. To do that, he proposed freezing wages for federal employees this year and holding them to 1 percent below the rate of inflation over the next three years, for a saving of $8 billion. Clinton's proposal to reduce government employment by 100,000 over four years would save $7.9 billion.
Clinton also proposed higher grazing fees on federal lands, charging more for timber cutting and boosting fees for commercial use of inland waterways. Recreational fees on federal lands such as certain national forests and national parks would be increased as well, to bring in $513 million over four years. Farm subsidies would be trimmed by $3.7 billion over four years.
He also proposed new limits on the payments doctors and hospitals receive under Medicare. In all, the administration proposed Medicare and Medicaid savings of $38.4 billion as a "down payment on controlling health-care costs."
But before the stick of deficit cuts, Clinton offered a carrot - a $30 billion short-term package to stimulate growth. Administration officials said this would provide an additional 500,000 jobs this year and next and get growth up to a level that would let Clinton achieve his campaign promise of creating 8 million jobs over the next four years.
The short-term program included an increase of $3 billion in highway spending this year, $2.5 billion more for community development grants, $1 billion to fund a summer-jobs program for youths and $845 million in accelerated spending on waste-water cleanup projects.
Large businesses would be rewarded for spending on new equipment this year and next, while businesses with gross receipts under $5 million would get a permanent investment tax credit.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB