With the ink barely dry on the Republican's fiscal 2001 budget resolution, Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew Tuesday served notice the Clinton administration has no intention of backing down from its final budget battle with the GOP majority.
Speaking before an Urban Institute audience, Lew called the GOP tax cut proposal "oversized" and "irresponsible." He added it "cannot be accomplished without putting in jeopardy other goals that are vital to our future," such as reducing the nation's publicly held debt and investing in domestic priorities-such as education, law enforcement, environmental protection and scientific research.
Lew declared, "Congress has left itself with inadequate resources to pass responsible appropriations bills for 2001," and warned, "It would be cynical to simply rely on past experience to conclude that, by the fall, one way or another Congress will find a way to meet needs that cannot be satisfied within their own budget."
Lew went on to say that Clinton "simply cannot and will not sign" fiscal 2001 spending bills that do not adequately fund the administration's priorities-citing in particular the Labor-HHS, Commerce-Justice-State, Foreign Operations, VA-HUD and Interior appropriations bills.
Lew said, "I am optimistic about the prospects for marking up bills" at the spending levels necessitated by the budget resolution, and warned that Republicans "are going to have to look very hard at the consequences of those funding levels."
Senate Budget Committee Majority Staff Director G. William Hoagland, who attended Lew's speech, later said he "saw no inkling the administration is willing to sit down and have meaningful negotiations." He added, "I'm afraid we're in for a very long summer and fall" as Congress and the White House again lock horns over spending priorities.
The congressional budget resolution sets the total discretionary spending level for fiscal 2001 at $600.3 billion, or nearly $14 billion more than the fiscal 2000 enacted level of $586 billion-a figure that includes one-time and emergency spending.
By comparison, Clinton's fiscal 2001 budget requested total discretionary spending of $625 billion.
The resolution also provides for a minimum of $150 billion in tax cuts under reconciliation, and another $25 billion more over five years without reconciliation protection. It also allows for any increase in the Congressional Budget Office's on-budget surplus projections to be used for further tax cuts. Responding to Lew's remarks, Hoagland said all of the potential cuts Lew said would be required by the GOP budget plan are in relation to the spending levels proposed in Clinton's fiscal 2001 budget request, and not fiscal 2000 enacted levels.
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