Editorial: On budget, GOP can’t right itself

Friday, Oct. 8, 1999 | 9:10 a.m.

Congressional Republicans got thumped last week when Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the frontrunner for the GOP's presidential nomination, criticized their plan to balance the budget by slowing down the earned-income tax credit refunds that millions of working-class families receive. Bush aptly characterized the Republican plan, saying it would "balance the budget on the backs of the poor."

Republican congressmen scurried for cover, trying to find a palatable way to balance the budget so that Congress' self-imposed spending caps weren't shattered. The latest plan would balance the budget by approving across-the-board cuts of 2.7 percent in all government programs, which is estimated to save $8.7 billion and balance the budget.

On a party-line vote on Wednesday in the Senate a nonbinding resolution was passed 54-46 that supported pursuing across-the-board budget cuts. Rejected was a Democratic plan that would have responsibly closed tax loopholes and investigated other ways to save money. President Clinton and Democrats in Congress understandably are unhappy with the turn of events.

Across-the-board budget cuts are the easy way out, but this isn't what we elected our representatives to do if a budget is tight. Simply cutting 2.7 percent out of every budget is irresponsible, since it spares agencies that deserve to be cut more and potentially cripples some programs, such as education, which need every dollar available.

Members of Congress should look at each of the 13 appropriations bills separately, finding ways to trim the budget. They could start with corporate welfare programs and tax breaks benefiting the wealthy. And they should even take a second look at one of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's pet projects, money to build a mini-aircraft carrier in a shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. As the Associated Press reported last week, the Navy didn't even want to start construction on this project until 2005, but Lott insisted that his home state benefit now, which would eat up $375 million in this budget.

It's not just the poor choices Republicans are making in trying to complete the budget, it also is frustrating that they can't get their act together. When Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., became speaker of the House earlier this year, the conventional wisdom was that his leadership style would be less confrontational and that he would "make the trains run on time." But the fact is Congress has had to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government running because it failed to meet the Oct. 1 deadline that marks the start of the new fiscal year. The sputtering by the Republican-controlled 106th Congress is inexcusable. It is time for the GOP leadership to reach out to the White House and Democrats in Congress and find common ground on the budget so that another continuing resolution isn't needed to keep the government afloat.