The Budget Deal That Wasn't

The Budget Deal That Wasn't

Wednesday, May 14th 1997 -- In what appears to be a last ditch effort to actually deliver what both Republicans and the White House announced as a balanced budget deal last week, both sides met late yesterday to try to iron out myriad differences which have surfaced over the past few days.

Republicans are accusing Democrats of wanting to "spend more and more" and Democrats are saying that promised letters from House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott detailing parts of the budget -- including education tax credits favored by the President -- never arrived. Now GOP leaders are out and out refusing to give President Clinton guarantees on tax cuts and domestic spending programs they supposedly agreed to only 10 days ago.

Was there an agreement after all?

One must consider that all the hoopla over last week's announcement hid the fact that there was no joint press conference (or joint announcement of any kind, for that matter) that both sides had come to specific terms. Why? Because GOP leaders and the White House were, in essence, launching a dual trial balloon -- one for the voters and the other for their party colleagues. On May 2nd, with a wink and a nod, the leadership decided to see how their proposals would fly.

Evidently there are some problems.

Now the game is to pretend that both sides don't really know what deal was made. As a matter of fact, the chief Democrat on the House Budget Committee, Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, may offer a Democratic alternative budget rather than back the budget deal.

The House Budget Committee is scheduled to begin open, public debate on the budget today. The Senate Budget Committee is not expected to consider its version until Thursday.

So deliberations will open in an atmosphere of mistrust and accusation.

What's new?