Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 20, 1995 TAG: 9505220041
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
By 99-0, the Senate dismissed Clinton's fiscal outline after Republicans forced a vote on it in hopes of embarrassing the White House and Democrats.
The result was no surprise: Amid the Republican drive to reverse decades of deficits, no one wanted to support a plan that leaves $200 billion annual shortfalls undisturbed indefinitely.
Even Clinton's most loyal supporters deserted him after Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., urged them to vote against it in the face of ``pure political gamesmanship'' by the GOP. Only Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., did not vote.
It is standard budget politics for lawmakers of one party to force Congress to vote on unpopular fiscal plans submitted by presidents of the other. For years, Democratic majorities in the House and Senate made Republicans squirm by staging roll calls on budgets submitted by GOP Presidents Reagan and Bush.
This time, Republicans returned the favor, criticizing both Clinton's budget and its lack of support by Democrats.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., holding the GOP plan of which he is chief author, declared, ``This budget is a budget for the future.'' Then, holding up Clinton's measure, he added, ``This budget is a budget of the past.''
Clinton reiterated his pledge to veto a separate bill eliminating $16.4 billion in already approved funds because, he said, it protects ``Republican pork'' while it slices crucial social programs. House Republicans offered to add another $1.4 billion in cuts to the measure.
From the White House, Clinton commended Republicans for spending plans that show it is ``arithmetically possible to reach a balanced budget.'' But as he and Democrats have done repeatedly, he challenged the way they would do it.
``I think we can achieve a balanced budget,'' Clinton told reporters. ``I do not believe that the right way to do it is by making severe cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, the health care of our seniors and disabled population and using that money to pay for tax cuts for upper-income people.''
Like the budget-balancing plan the House approved Thursday, the Senate's version of the measure claims a surplus by 2002 by squeezing savings from Medicare, Medicaid and numerous other benefits while wiping away more than 100 agencies and programs. The House package also includes $350 billion worth of tax cuts; the Senate measure omits them for now.
Administration officials and Democrats have said they will seek a compromise budget if Republicans agree to drop demands for tax cuts, education reductions, and Medicare savings that omit other changes in the country's health-care system.
Senate approval of the GOP plan is certain, probably Wednesday. Budget resolutions cannot be filibustered.
by CNB