Word: darman
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Bush promised last week to reveal ideas for reducing the deficit at a special joint session of Congress shortly after his Inauguration. He has also asked House and Senate leaders to join him in early budget talks. Bush's designated budget director, Richard Darman, has discussed with Republican leaders the idea of dividing the budget into five to 20 categories, such as "national security" and "health care," and putting an overall spending limit on each. Added together, the reductions would slice the deficit to $100 billion. It would be up to Congress to fill in the blanks by deciding which...
...deficit-cutting targets without new taxes, but avoid the need to identify specific programs for the budget ax. That is precisely why key Democrats like Mitchell and House Budget Committee Chairman Leon Panetta dismiss the vague outline as a political ploy. Last week even some Republican officials urged Darman and Bush to go a half-step further and list "broad proposals" to reform Medicare and farm subsidies. But like any smart cardplayer, Bush has no intention of showing his hand...
...from the same cloth as those who are making the recommendations. In a few cases, they are one and the same. For example, Brent Scowcroft, named last week as Bush's National Security Adviser, was a member of the team that concocted the Ford-Carter American Agenda. Richard Darman, whom Bush tapped as head of the Office of Management and Budget, is a trustee of the Brookings Institution, which has produced two major transition reports...
...moment, Bush must at least signal that he recognizes his budget dilemma. He will probably name the rest of his economic team before departing for his vacation home in Kennebunkport, Me., for Thanksgiving weekend. The biggest question is whether former Reagan Treasury official and Baker protege Richard Darman will be named to head the Office of Management and Budget. A respected investment banker, Darman at OMB would please the markets, but he might seem too independent to meet Bush's exacting standards of loyalty...
...initiatives, including more than $6 billion in oil and capital-gains tax breaks. Upward pressure on the deficit will be inexorable. A combination of new user fees, tax-rate adjustments and other masking devices is the likely route Bush will take around his no-new-tax campaign pledge. Richard Darman's first job if he becomes Office of Management and Budget Director will be to dream up a fresh euphemism for tax increases to replace the "revenue enhancers" of the early Reagan days...