ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 27, 1995 TAG: 9512270125
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
A House Republican leader warned Tuesday that further juggling of the U.S. books to permit additional borrowing without congressional approval may be unconstitutional.
But the administration said it was left with no other options to avoid throwing the government into default on its debts.
House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer of Texas urged Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin not to go beyond the measures he has taken to extend borrowing.
``I have been advised that any additional steps that you may take will raise significant and perhaps insurmountable legal and constitutional questions,'' Archer wrote Rubin in a two-page letter.
The letter did not mention specific countermeasures Congress could take if Rubin fails to heed the warning.
The administration said in response that it has been forced into the extraordinary maneuvers by the Republicans.
``These measures, all of which are provided for in existing law, have been made necessary only because of the majority's insistence on using the debt limit as leverage to force the president to accept their budget priorities,'' said Treasury spokesman Howard Schloss. He said it is Rubin's ``duty and intention to take all legal steps necessary to assure that the nation's financial obligations ... are honored.''
White House spokesman Mike McCurry said there were no post-Christmas developments to report on the budget impasse. The talks, recessed Friday, are scheduled to resume at the staff level today with White House chief of staff Leon Panetta likely to join in on Thursday.
The Office of Management and Budget said about 760,000 federal workers will receive only a partial paycheck either Dec. 29 or the first week in January. This will affect the 280,000 workers on furlough and another 480,000 who remain on the job.
One of the agencies affected is the Department of Veterans Affairs, where chief Jesse Brown wrote employees Tuesday, ``I know this is bad news, coming just after Christmas, when you are already working in a stressful emergency situation, with many of your co-workers furloughed.''
VA spokesman Jim Holley said full deductions for benefits will be subtracted from paychecks, leaving some workers with virtually no net pay.
In his letter to Rubin, Archer wrote, ``Based on your announcements to date, you will have effectively increased the indebtedness of the federal government by $76 billion above the statutory debt limit of $4.9 trillion.''
Continuing on that course ``would seriously undermine the constitutional balance of power,'' Archer said. Only Congress has the constitutional authority to authorize federal borrowing, he added.
The Republican-controlled Congress has refused to raise the debt limit, a tactic designed to pressure President Clinton to agree to a GOP seven-year balanced budget deal.
Rubin countered with a series of bookkeeping moves that Treasury officials privately said could be extended as long as the budget stalemate lasts.
Last month, Rubin created more room under the debt ceiling by withdrawing $61.3 billion in securities from two federal employee retirement funds and replacing them with IOUs.
He said two weeks ago that on Friday he would withhold a $14.5 billion semiannual interest payment from another trust fund, allowing the government to keep borrowing until early February.
Archer noted that the House voted 235-103 on Dec. 14 to enforce the debt limit and protect federal trust funds. He said House passage of the measure ``indicates a growing bipartisan uneasiness'' with Rubin's actions.
But there seems little chance Republicans could muster the two-thirds strength in both houses needed to override a presidential veto of any legislation tying Rubin's hands.
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