ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 15, 1995 TAG: 9512150069
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-18 EDITION: METRO
BOTH THE GOP leadership and the White House say they're going to try real hard to hammer out a budget compromise this weekend. That would be nice. Neither the negotiating parties nor American citizens need another partial shutdown of government, like the one that idled 800,000 federal employees last month.
On the basis of opinion surveys (showing that majorities perceive GOP budget positions as extreme and unfair), bargaining concessions already made (such as President Clinton's agreement to a balanced budget in seven years), and improving fiscal projections (easing the way to a settlement by putting more money on the table), a stopgap agreement allowing the government to stay in business would seem within reach. A provisional settlement may be, too.
President Clinton should stick to his pledge, in any event, to veto legislation that fails to preserve a federal safety net of health care for the poor. To eliminate national, minimal assurance of access to medical care for the neediest and most vulnerable, especially children and nursing-home patients - while not touching, for example, tax deductions on millionaires' vacation homes - would be inexcusable.
Certainly, medical costs must be controlled, and states afforded more flexibility, as part of a general reform of health insurance. But eliminating the Medicaid entitlement, as Republicans would do while letting states set their own coverage and spending limits, would only increase the already alarming number of Americans lacking health insurance.
Clinton and Congress, on the other hand, should be able to agree to cuts in projected health-care spending, assuming that Democrats can bear to give up the demagoguery ("Republicans want to take away your Medicare!") now winning them temporary political points at the expense of prospects for entitlement reform and for funding of other government services.
Again, it would be better if Medicare could be addressed in the context of health-care and entitlement reform rather than simply balancing the budget. The best, though, must be made of a so-far sorry debate.
As part of any agreement, the GOP will need at the very least to scale back its tax-cut proposals, especially given the public's realization that these proposals favor the wealthy and are the principal reason why Republicans had to propose Draconian spending cuts to balance the budget in seven years.
Reducing the annual inflation adjustment (for Social Security and tax brackets) also would help, and appropriately so, given evidence that the Consumer Price Index exaggerates inflation. The saved revenue would help reduce the need for cuts in public investments in the future, such as for education and research.
It is appalling that the White House and Congress would try to balance the budget without going after, in any serious way, corporate subsidies and welfare for the well-off; without overhauling Social Security; without asking the military to contribute to the savings.
Perhaps we can't expect too much when the public itself continues to reward demagoguery, continues to ask for a balanced budget without cuts in services (except to those welfare types). Oh well. Surely, though, some sort of agreement by Christmas isn't too much to ask for.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB