Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 7, 1995 TAG: 9502070088
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Boston Globe
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long
As expected, Clinton did not trim Washington's biggest-ticket items in his $1.61 trillion plan. He previously promised not to touch Social Security, and Monday he asked essentially for no new cuts in Medicare, Medicaid or welfare.
That leaves it to GOP lawmakers, who are expected to rework the budget from the ground up, to venture into the politically treacherous terrain of cutting these programs to meet their twin goals of tax cuts and a balanced budget.
Overall, Clinton in his budget was much less ambitious than he was during his first year, when he proposed one of the largest deficit-reduction deals in U.S. history, or last year, when he floated his ill-fated health overhaul proposal.
Clinton sought to portray his caution as fiscal sobriety. ``Anyone can offer a tax cut or propose investment,'' he said. ``The hard part is to pay for it.''
Clinton's budget calls for Washington to spend $1.612 trillion in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, collect $1.416 trillion in revenues and run a $196.7 billion deficit.
Among areas that would be allowed spending increases are:
Education, where the administration wants to consolidate scores of programs, including Pell grants to students and jobs training, and add about $1 billion.
Biomedical research, in line for a 4 percent increase to $11.5 billion.
Crime and immigration control, to receive $4.5 billion more than this year.
With Clinton's budget out, the spotlight turns to the Republicans, who spent the day issuing withering assaults on the president for not doing more to control costs.
Clinton's budget ``failed to take on big issues,'' declared Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. ``If you can't do better than that, you haven't bitten any bullets.''
``This budget lacks courage,'' said Rep. John Kasich, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Budget Committee. He said Clinton ``has shown no interest in doing the heavy lifting needed to eliminate our budget deficits.''
Kasich and other House GOP leaders quietly conceded, however, that they will miss a self-imposed mid-February deadline for offering the first of their spending cuts.
Kasich spokesman Bruce Cuthbertson said the GOP lawmakers will make good on their promise to vote on cutbacks in the first 100 days of this Congress. Some outside analysts said, however, that the latest delay suggests the Republicans are having trouble settling on what to cut.
Clinton's plan follows many lines laid out by Republicans in last fall's campaign, but his proposals are nowhere near as large-scale.
For example, he is calling for a series of new tax cuts, including a $500 credit for children under 13 in families earning $75,000 or less a year, a new $10,000 deduction for college or job-training, and expanded Individual Retirement Accounts to encourage extra saving.
Even with the cuts, administration officials concede the deficit will rise in two years, from an expected $192.5 billion this year to $196.7 billion in fiscal 1996 and $213.1 billion in fiscal 1997, and remain near the $200 billion mark for the rest of the decade. Republicans assert they will find a way to cut $1.2 trillion over seven years to balance the federal budget.
White House officials Monday hammered away at the fact that Republicans have yet to come up with any specifics of what federal spending they would cut to offset their proposed tax cuts and make good on their promise to balance the budget by 2002.
In their ``Contract With America,'' Republicans suggested some spending reductions, especially in welfare, to pay for tax cuts, but nowhere near enough to make good on their balanced budget pledge.
``We haven't seen anything from them so far,'' said White House budget director Alice Rivlin.
Both sides in the coming budget battle agree that much of the fight will be waged over the issues that preoccupied Washington last year, especially the cost of Medicare and other federal health programs.
Domenici said Senate Republicans are likely to use Medicare cuts Clinton proposed as part of his health overhaul plan last year in order to balance the budget.
Separately, Rivlin signaled that the administration might be willing to go along with using Medicare cuts for deficit reduction, but only if the program is reformed in the process. Almost any change is likely to cause a political uproar among senior citizens and activist groups such as the American Association of Retired Persons.
Clinton sought to emphasize his readiness to cut federal spending by unveiling his budget while standing in front of two huge banners listing hundreds of programs the administration wants to end or consolidate.
A look at the budgetary fine print shows that those cutbacks would save about $2.9 billion next fiscal year - about 1.5 percent of the deficit the administration says the government will run that year.
by CNB