Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 22, 1990 TAG: 9005220474
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: WALTER R. MEARS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Despite the clamor over the president's easing of his ban against new taxes, a settlement could turn out to be an asset for the White House. Democrats have been arguing all year that unrealistic assumptions in the administration budget would lead to a midyear deficit crunch with a threat of automatic spending cuts that would cripple federal programs next fall, just before the elections.
That, and the soaring, unbudgeted cost of the savings and loan bailout led to what Bush now calls an urgent problem, and to the budget talks he convened. The negotiations resume today.
It will take weeks, perhaps months, but those talks will produce some sort of settlement because neither party can afford to let them fail.
A top administration official, assessing the prospect on condition he not be identified by name, said politicians won't want the issue loose during the fall election campaign, when positions will hardenand congressional challengers will demand to know what incumbents are going to do about taxes and federal spending programs.
When there is a deal, Bush will preside over the announcement session, sharing the platform with Democratic leaders, offering thanks and praise, hailing their bipartisanship. For all that, the president's voice is the one that counts politically.
In the event that his voice overrules his lips and accepts new taxes, it will be embarrassing. How embarrassing, and for how long, will depend on the shape of the whole package. A true, long-term compromise that really does cut deficits would be a plus for all parties to the talks.
There's also the question of what new taxes, what they would cost, and who would pay. The administration official said that in a $50 billion settlement that split deficit reduction between spending cuts and new revenues, less than $5 billion in additional taxes might be enough. He said the administration budget already includes $19.4 billion in new revenues. The White House doesn't call them taxes.
But the Democrats are determined that he will, before this deal is done.
They had hoped to prod Bush into addressing the nation on the budget crunch, worsened by slipping revenues and rising interest rates, along with the savings and loan bailout. They argued that it would be difficult to sell harsh budget measures to the voters unless Bush made the case for action. At the first session in the budget talks, last Tuesday, he declined to do so.
He said later that there will be a time for prime time, but not now. "I want to go out when we have a bipartisan answer to the problem, say here's what the problem is and here's . . . the answer."
Rep. Bill Frenzel of Minnesota, senior Republican on the Budget Committee, said that in urging a nationally televised presidential address on the budget problem, the Democrats were trying to push Bush to do what Jimmy Carter did in what came to be known as his malaise speech, a catalogue of troubles that dragged him down politically.
While Democrats would like hear Bush proposals, and have the voters hear them, too, the president said that to make recommendations in public would breach his promise that the administration would bargain on the budget with no preconditions.
Bush said he wasn't out to trick or blindside anybody. But he told Democrats who challenged him to go first on proposing answers to wait one minute - Congress is responsible for appropriating money and raising revenues.
by CNB