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

DATE: TUESDAY, March 28, 1995                   TAG: 9503280064
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

CLINTON OFFERS CUTS

President Clinton urged $13 billion in cuts at four federal agencies Monday, promoting them as proof the government can shrink ``without a mean spirit or meat ax.'' More than half would come from NASA.

In a veiled rebuke of Republican budget plans, the president said the budget can be trimmed without slashing summer jobs, school drug programs or his national service initiative - all targets of the GOP.

``We can do it in a way that is humane and decent,'' Clinton said.

He announced plans to consolidate, trim or eliminate programs at the Small Business Administration, Interior Department, Federal Emergency Management Agency and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The effort would save $13.1 billion and eliminate 4,805 government positions in five years, the White House said.

The space agency would provide the bulk of the totals, cutting $8 billion and 2,000 positions.

Many of the changes were previously publicized or were long in the works, but the White House hopes to promote Clinton's ``reinventing government'' project by packaging agency plans together.

The White House has accused Republicans of targeting school lunch, education, jobs and anti-drug programs for children. Republicans, who are proposing much deeper cuts in the federal bureaucracy, say Clinton has not gone far enough.

Elaine Kamarck, staff director of the ``reinventing government'' project, which is aimed at making government do more for less, urged reporters to compare Monday's announcement to GOP budget cuts. ``We are not looking to cut school lunches ... to cut women, infants and children's food supplements,'' she said.

Vice President Al Gore also promised compassion in cutting. ``The government will pay,'' he said, ``Not our children.''

Among the plans:

Accelerate the transfer of Bureau of Indian Affairs programs at Interior to the tribes themselves.

Under FEMA, require states to pay for uninsured public repairs equal to a deductible level established by the federal government.

Move more SBA programs from headquarters to less costly field offices.

by CNB