ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 8, 1995 TAG: 9512080079
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
President Clinton proposed a revised budget Thursday that he said would achieve balance in seven years as Republicans demand, but it contained only modest revisions to his 10-year outline of last June.
Essentially, Clinton reframed his proposals onto a seven-year timetable and added $141 billion in savings - much of it unspecified.
Republicans rejected Clinton's latest proposal.
``This is a tremendous disappointment; and frankly they have to come back to the table again, and they better do it quickly because the deadline is fast approaching,'' said House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said: ``I am as disappointed as could be. They do not in any way bridge this gap.''
Clinton and Republicans say they want to balance the federal budget over seven years, but disagree fundamentally on how to do it. Clinton vetoed the GOP's plan Wednesday.
The dispute is expected to dominate the politics of 1996 through November's elections.
Meanwhile, Clinton asked Congress for a new stopgap spending bill to keep the government operating through Jan. 26. Current spending authority expires Dec. 15. Unless it is extended, some government operations could face shutdown again, as they did for six days last month.
Kasich and Domenici both said there is little chance Congress will extend spending to Jan. 26.
White House press secretary Mike McCurry said: ``There darn well better be some movement on the part of the Republican congressional negotiators now. The president having taken this additional step to try to find common ground on a budget, if there's not, this will be a very short negotiation, I suspect.''
Republicans objected particularly to Clinton's proposal for Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the poor and disabled; and his insistence on basing budget calculations on economic assumptions from his own Office of Management and Budget rather than from their shop, the Congressional Budget Office.
Republicans want to turn Medicaid over to the states, which would decide who is covered and what benefits they get. The GOP would cut projected spending by $163 billion over seven years. Clinton would keep Medicaid as a benefit available to any eligible American. He would cut its projected spending by $54 billion over seven years and give states more leeway in deciding how to deliver benefits.
In the dispute over economic assumptions, OMB predicts the economy will be slightly stronger over the next seven years than CBO forecasts. If OMB is right, the budget can be balanced in seven years without having to cut several hundred billion dollars in spending that must be cut if CBO is right.
Clinton agreed last month to let CBO judge the assumptions guiding any final budget deal he strikes with Congress, but the White House contends that OMB's guidance is fine for now.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Fifty-five people were arrested Thursday at theby CNBCapitol for demonstrating illegally. The protest of proposed cuts in
aid to the poor was organized by a religious group. color. Graphic:
Chart: The Clinton plan. color.