Kasich: Overhaul Will Wait

While cautiously optimistic Congress and the Clinton administration will agree this year on a balanced budget plan, House Budget Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio, Tuesday predicted Republicans will not achieve their goal of an overhaul of the federal government as part of a budget deal.

"There's no plan on the table that calls for that," Kasich told reporters after a House Budget Committee hearing on President Clinton's proposed fiscal 1998 budget.

During the 104th Congress' budget debate, Republicans insisted any plan must shift power and influence outside Washington.

"The re-election of the president tempers our ability to do big things," Kasich acknowledged. "The people have spoken in an election ... It's going to be a lot longer getting that done."

Meanwhile, Budget Committee GOP staff released figures showing that, according to Congresssional Budget Office economic assumptions, the Clinton budget likely will be at least $36.5 billion out of balance in FY2002, and aides cautioned the figure could be higher when the CBO releases its analysis later this week.

While Kasich noted everyone is saying a budget deal is within reach, he cautioned it is going to be a "very, very, very difficult project."

Although some Republicans have discussed using the president's budget as a starting point and not developing a Republican alternative, Kasich said he believes the GOP will draw up its own plan.

"It's very hard to negotiate if you don't know where you are," Kasich said.

Kasich and Budget ranking member John Spratt, D-S.C., also began setting parameters for the budget debate.

Kasich said Republicans will not accept the administration's call for $180 billion in new discretionary spending, contending, "I don't believe our conservative members will go for that."

In addition, Kasich rejected any plan to abandon CBO economic assumptions in developing a budget. CBO assumptions will make it more difficult to balance the budget, since they are more conservative than the Office of Management and Budget's assumptions.

"Our team needs to know the enormous difficulty of this task if you don't use rosy scenarios," Kasich said. "I do not believe that we in any way should fudge the conservative numbers."

Kasich also said he is unhappy the Clinton budget would make 73 percent of its cuts during the last two years of the budget. He said that during the last year of the budget plan, the federal government would be required to hold a spectrum auction that would raise $26 billion, a figure he said could never be met.

During Tuesday's hearing, Kasich asked OMB Director Raines to help Congress develop a plan that would include early savings.

"This Congress is ready to do heavy lifting," Kasich declared.

Raines said the Clinton budget already does that, adding, "We are not asking to put off decisions."

For his part, Spratt expressed fears that Republicans and Democrats may end up in a bidding war over tax cuts. He suggested anyone who proposes a tax cut should have to find offsetting savings within the tax code.