Word: surplus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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When White House budget director Mitchell Daniels testified before the Senate Budget Committee this spring, he brought along a plump apple pie--an apt symbol for the government's bountiful budget surplus, then estimated at some $275 billion. But when Daniels appeared before the panel last week, his estimate of the spare cash fell as low as $160 billion. The committee's new Democratic chairman, Kent Conrad, served some baked goods too. He gave Daniels a modest pear tart with the words "shrinking surplus" inscribed in frosting...
...Trust us, Mr. Bush. Look at California. With some prodding from state-induced conservation measures - and some big rate hikes - usage is down 12 percent since last June and the state is running a surplus. Three new power plants have added 1,400 megawatts to the grid, but conservation has added 5,570 more to the balance sheet. And nobody's starving of economic sluggishness...
...Then, in an ironic twist, House Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee said they reluctantly will oppose a ten-year, $40 billion package of energy tax breaks that includes tax credits for hybrid-fuel cars, residential solar systems and alternative fuels - because they were worried about the budget surplus...
...dwindling surplus and the ailing economy and the gathering tax-cut rematch weren't enough, George W. Bush just got handed another ticking time bomb...
...environment is not likely to get much better. The fall months will be consumed by a massive budget fight where the president and his party will be trying to protect their priorities and limit spending. The surplus is shrinking slightly, and with the Democrats in control of the Senate, there could be mean and close fights over the 13 appropriations bills that direct government check writers. Getting to the other side will require horse-trading and sweet-talking - and that will burn up political capital. Or, the president might have to wing out a veto or two, which will really...