Washington – President Clinton said Monday he wants to use the staggering
surpluses now forecast in the federal budget to pay off the national debt by
2012, and offered a bargain to congressional Republicans to end the so-called
marriage penalty.
The White House estimates the total surpluses at $1.87 trillion over the next
10 years. Announcement of the new estimate, which is more than double the $746
billion forecast just four months ago, pours massive new sums of money into
this years budget fight and roils this years presidential and congressional
election campaigns.
Clinton wants to spend part of the surplus to pay for prescription drugs for
the elderly, a benefit currently lacking under the federal Medicare program.
The White House and congressional Republicans have competing plans to pay for a
drug benefit. Democrats and Republicans also differ over how to end the tax
disparity for married couples, who often pay more than if they filed
individually.
Clinton said he called congressional GOP leaders Monday to offer this deal: If
Congress will pass a plan to that gives real voluntary Medicare prescription
drug coverage available and affordable to all seniors consistently with the
principles of my plan … then I will sign a marriage penalty relief law,
Clinton said. Each initiative would cost about $250 billion over 10 years, he
said.
This is a proposal for true compromise that asks each party to accept some of
the positions of the other party in the name of progress, Clinton said.
Clinton wants to save the entire Social Security surplus of $2.3 trillion over
10 years and devote it to paying down the public debt. In addition, he proposes
to save the entire Medicare surplus of $403 billion over 10 years and devote
that to debt reduction as well. A 6-year-old today … is living in an America
that is 3.5 trillion dollars in debt, Clinton said during a Rose Garden
appearance. We can eliminate that debt by the time that child enters college.
Twelve years from now people from my generation will be entering retirement
knowing that Social Security and Medicare will be there for them. Quite simply,
an economic plan that invests in our people, and pays down the debt, is the
wisest choice we can make to honor our values and ensure a better future for
our children.
Clinton also proposed setting aside some of the money for a 10-year, $500
billion reserve for Americas future that could be used for debt reduction, tax
cuts, buttressing peoples retirement plans or whatever else lawmakers
decided.
Clintons dramatically bigger surplus forecast has been expected for weeks,
thanks to the huge piles of revenue the robust economy has generated for the
federal government. Nonetheless, the mountains of projected cash were infusing
a new uncertainty into election-year politics.
The extra money could make it easier for the two sides to strike a wide-ranging
budget deal on taxes and spending, though the temptation remains for many
members of both parties to leave major conflicts unresolved so they can trumpet
their differences during this falls campaigns.
John Feehery, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said: These
numbers are the result of the fiscal responsibility of the Republican Congress,
and it would be a mistake to throw that responsibility overboard by an
aggressive new spending plan.
The new $1.87 trillion 10-year surplus projection excluded Social Security. It
represents the part of the surplus politicians feel free to use for spending or
for tax cuts. With Social Securitys own surpluses included, the overall 10-
year black ink was being projected at $4.19 trillion, a Democratic official
said.
Clintons enriched proposal for a new prescription drug benefit under Medicare
will have a 10-year, $255 billion price tag, $60 billion bigger than his last
plan and far bigger than a competing House GOP package. Eliminating the
publicly held portion of the national debt by 2012 would be a year earlier than
Clinton proposed in February.
Of the $5.7 trillion national debt, Clinton would eliminate the $3.5 trillion
part of it held by the public. The remaining $2.2 trillion is money the
government owes its own trust funds for Social Security and other programs.
Vice President Al Gore wants a $500 billion tax cut and more spending for
Social Security, health, schools and the environment. George W. Bush, the
presumed Republican nominee for president, wants to use $1.3 trillion of the
surplus for a tax cut and more of it for debt reduction and shoring up Social
Security.
