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July 1999 Opinions were:
July 27, 1999 - And the tricks keep on coming...
How to avoid the budget caps from the 1997 agreement: Everything is an emergency.
July 22, 1999 - Horror show time.
Posturing to show how dire the consequences will be.
July 13, 1999 - Is the surplus for real?
The surplus is a political tool.
July 8, 1999 - Summit time.
July 27, 1999 - And the tricks keep on coming...
 | The markups process is starting to reveal the true dimensions of the problems related to
the 1997 budget deal. Everything will now become an emergency, and therefore exempt
from the 1997 budget deal caps. The House Veterans, Housing and Urban Development,
and Independent agencies sub-committee has started to call "emergencies" items
that most people would think of as normal items of regular government work, such as
veterans' health care. The reason for this is that doing so avoids dealing with the
need for a new budget deal, or the need to cut programs. It is an attempt at eating
your cake and having it too. |
| The problem with this approach is that eventually someone who can do something about it
will point out the obvious - that it is a trick that should not be used. Many people
have so done, but what counts is whether or not a member of Congress will do so, and
whether or not this member can cause enough of a problem for the leadership to precipitate
a crisis. |
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July 22, 1999 - Horror show time
| Now is the time for agencies to come up with information that will make the case that
untold horrible things will happen if the Administration's budget request is not approved.
In Washington numerous civil servants toil away at documenting the effects of
budget cuts if there is no revised budget agreement. The material so prepared will
be ready for use in the fall, when Congress and the President have to get down to serious
business about a new budget agreement. |
| Congress has been unwilling to act on the President's request, so matters will be
escalated. The time has come to pressure Congress, to pull out all stops and go to
the people and the various interests in the country and show what horrid events will
unfold unless Congress cleans up its act and does as the President requests. In
this, the President has the advantage of using the full resources of the Executive
Branch. But it works both ways - see pressure for an
example on how Congress does it. |
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July 13, 1999 - Is the surplus for real?
| The surplus that is the key to solving the budget problems is clearly a political tool.
Although there are now many voices that raise questions about the assumptions
underlying the surplus projections, and there are many valid reasons why the surplus
projections are an exercise in fiction, the fact remains that only a large surplus
projection provides the political basis for Congress and the President to negotiate a new
budget agreement. Without a large surplus, there is no basis for discussions and
there will be no appropriations acts by the fall. And we would be back into the
shutdowns of 1995-96. Back to top
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July 8, 1999 - Summit time.
| The President and Congressional leaders are scheduled to meet next week to discuss
budget issues. On the agenda will be social security, the President's new program
initiatives, and tax cuts. Having this meeting is clearly facilitated by the new
surplus numbers. |
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