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

DATE: TUESDAY, November 30, 1993                   TAG: 9311300374
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PENNY-KASICH

IT WAS bad enough that Congress last week rejected a worthwhile effort to cut federal spending again, by $90 billion over five years. What's worse is that the Clinton administration quietly, but effectively, lobbied to kill the package.

Earlier this year, to woo a majority for his $500 billion deficit-reduction package, President Clinton promised to allow another vote for further deficit reduction in the fall. But when Timothy Penny, D-Minn., and John Kasich, R-Ohio, came up with a package of more than 80 program cuts, Clinton balked.

The bipartisan plan would have cut the federal budget by all of 1 percent, with the biggest chunk of savings coming from changes in Medicare rules to require affluent seniors to pay more for their health care. Even with the president leading the opposition, the plan was voted down by only six votes.

The administration raised several specious arguments. Defense Secretary Les Aspin warned that asking European allies to assume a greater share of allied military costs would degrade America's defense capability. Laura Tyson, head of the Council of Economic Advisers, warned that budget cuts (of $18 billion a year in a $6 trillion economy) would put economic growth at risk.

The more serious argument was strategic: The administration said it will need the Medicare savings to help extend health insurance to all Americans. This point won the day, but it still leaves Washington with no major addition to Clinton's anti-deficit measures.

A weak White House alternative, claiming $37 billion in savings, did pass last week. A Senate proposal more along the lines of Penny-Kasich is scheduled to come up early next year.

Meantime, more deficit reduction is clearly needed, and Congress and the administration cannot continue to claim they are serious about providing it while rejecting the implementing legislation.

by CNB