Senate Aide Sees '99 Balance

Congress is unlikely to pass a quick rescission bill to balance the federal budget during fiscal 1998, but it will balance the budget for fiscal 1999, a key Senate aide predicted Wednesday.

Finding the $5 billion in rescissions necessary to balance the budget immediately, while at the same time passing supplemental appropriations to pay for such items as the Bosnia mission, disaster relief and any International Monetary Fund or United Nations programs, would be difficult, Carole McGuire, assistant director of the Senate Budget Committee, told a Regional Reporters Association budget seminar today. "That is probably not likely to occur," McGuire said.

Four GOP senators and House Majority Whip DeLay have said Congress should pass legislation to balance the budget this year.

While McGuire said a balanced budget in FY98 probably will not happen, Republican leaders will insist that the FY99 budget resolution result in balance. "It appears that the Senate leadership will move forward to do that," she said.

McGuire added, however, that it remains unclear whether Congress will move on a budget resolution before taking up the major budget battle of the year -- reauthorization of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act. She said the House will consider a budget resolution before taking up the contentious ISTEA bill, adding that there is a "good chance" the Senate will do the same.

McGuire also said Congress may wait until later in the year to consider supplemental funding for the IMF and the United Nations, saying members may not be willing to delay a spring supplemental spending package while waiting to settle the IMF issue. She said Budget Committee staffers hope Congress can enact a budget plan this year without having to pass reconciliation legislation.

Appearing at the same seminar, Lawrence Haas, the Office of Management and Budget's associate director for communications, said the Clinton administration remains committed to balancing the budget in FY99, adding that all new administration initiatives will fall under the spending caps in the balanced budget agreement. Haas added, however, that some administration initiatives would be funded with tobacco settlement funds. But McGuire said she is unsure Congress will be able to pass tobacco legislation.