Word: gramm
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...goal was to wipe out the deficit by 1992 -- a year ahead of the target in the latest version of the Gramm-Rudman law. The case for balancing the budget sooner rather than later is simple: the longer it takes, the more difficult it becomes, and the more costly the delay. During his terms, Reagan has amassed a higher deficit total ($1.25 trillion) than all previous Presidents combined. In the process, he and Congress have more than doubled the national debt, to $2.36 trillion. Meanwhile, interest on the debt has snowballed, threatening to bury the financial fortunes of generations...
...other candidates. The story was not responsible. I also read the Boston Globe's story on the Babbitt interview, and it was as if the Globe reporter had attended a different event. Somehow, the Globe reporter was able to write a whole story on Babbitt's policies concerning Gramm-Rudman, taxes, education, abortion, immigration, and foreign policy...
Almost as significant, however, was what was not done. The spending cuts were actually far less than those mandated by the automatic Gramm-Rudman- Hollings ax, which was temporarily activated last Friday pending enactment of the new compromise. Some of the other savings came from selling off federal assets and various financial sleights of hand. And the summiteers squandered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity -- a major financial crisis during a nonelection year -- to confront the biggest sacred cow of all: Social Security. Few dared even to whisper those words...
...good many lawmakers were left cold by the compromise. Liberal Democrats complained that the Pentagon reductions were not deep enough (they are less than half of what they would be under Gramm-Rudman). Republicans griped that the package relied too much on taxes. Several critics said the $30.2 billion in estimated savings for fiscal 1988 will hardly make a dent in the deficit for that year, which Congress projects will be $179.9 billion. Senator Bob Packwood, an Oregon Republican, called the budget package a "miserable little pittance." Congressman Newt Gingrich was even more acerbic in his appraisal...
Even after the summiteers emerged with their compromise on Friday afternoon, the President proceeded to trigger the $23 billion of across-the-board cuts required by Gramm-Rudman. Congress, however, has until mid-December to incorporate the new deal into law before the full weight of the Gramm-Rudman ax falls. Thus congressional leaders will be forced to iron out swiftly the details of the summit compromise and to muster the votes for the requisite tax hikes and spending reductions...