White House delays action on appropriations bills

The White House has embarked on a strategy of delaying consideration of appropriations bills passed by Congress, seeking to view the bills in the context of the larger budget picture.

But aides to President Clinton also hope to derail the GOP strategy of sending the bills to the president piecemeal and forcing him to raid the Social Security surplus to fund a single, remaining measure. This approach would counter the vow of House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, to make Clinton beg "on his knees" to use the Social Security surplus for the final bill-presumably the Labor-HHS spending bill.

"We're not going to let them put us in a position where they can put the squeeze on us in the end," one administration official declared. "[Budget] money is fungible," noted a White House official. "Putting it all together will show how they are using gimmicks" to avoid spending the Social Security surplus. The strategy is also consistent with Clinton's stated desire for an omnibus budget package.

The Defense appropriations bill, the administration official said, will not be quickly signed. And the Foreign Operations spending bill continues to await a veto that was expected in short order-although this may stem more from ongoing study of how much money will be needed to fund Kosovo operations.

Nevertheless, White House officials indicated Clinton will move slowly on other bills both to gain political advantage and to size up the overall spending and offsets that will be required.

The president has 10 days to veto a bill, not including Sundays, before it becomes law. "We're going to look and make sure where all of the pieces are falling. Then we can act prudently," one White House official said.

Charging Republicans with conducting an "extravagant shell game on the budget," White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart today tipped his hand to the White House approach. "We're going to withhold judgment on the bills that are coming down here until we understand how they're going to pay for these things, whether they're going to spend the Social Security surplus-and based on everything they've done so far they're going to-and how they plan to short change our priorities," he grumbled.

One apparent result of the strategy-and the likelihood that Congress will not finish the spending bills by next Thursday's deadline-is that White House officials have accepted that an additional continuing resolution will be necessary.

There is still debate, however, about how long of a CR to grant. And the next CR may be conditional, one White House aide indicated. "They should not assume that just sending up a CR will be enough," he warned.

On the heels of a stinging defeat on the comprehensive test ban treaty, Clinton Thursday lashed out at Republicans, who he said endangered national security with a "reckless partisanship" that also imperils U.S. "economic security" on the budget.

Speaking at the beginning of an afternoon news conference, Clinton charged Republicans with seeking to raise taxes on "our hardest-pressed working families," using "gimmicks," spending the surplus and contemplating cuts that could harm military readiness, medical research and education.

He also complained of "isolationism" within GOP ranks. But he nevertheless called for the two sides to work together and revive the "bipartisan budget process" that has existed in previous years.