Posted on 03/04/2002 2:59:45 PM PST by vannrox
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 — Congressional Democrats sharply criticized President Bush's $2.13 trillion budget today as a plan that returns the nation to deficit spending and drains the Social Security surplus just when the government should be preparing for the retirement of the baby boom generation.
Their comments, at the start of an election year battle over government priorities, suggested that Democrats were trying to position themselves in their familiar role as defenders of the popular government programs for the elderly. .
Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota, who heads the Budget Committee, said Mr. Bush would use more than $2 trillion of the Social Security and Medicare surpluses in the next decade to pay for other needs and make up for tax cuts..
Mr. Conrad said that was a "serious error, given the fact that the baby boomers start to retire in just six years." He called the budget reminiscent of the deceptive financial practices of the Enron Corporation that led the company to file for bankruptcy protection..
"They said that the biggest problem with Enron was that they were hiding debt," Mr. Conrad said, "hiding it from its shareholders, hiding it from the creditors, hiding it from themselves. I think that's exactly what the federal government is doing. The federal government is now engaged in hiding its debt and understating its debt." .
Republicans called the deficits, projected to last for most of Mr. Bush's current term, a result of the Sept. 11 attacks and said Mr. Bush had put forward a wartime plan for security. "This is not necessarily a budget for bookkeepers, it is a budget for security and victory," said Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee. .
The Social Security issue is sensitive because it is a potent campaign issue and because each party has pledged over the past few years to use Social Security taxes only to pay benefits or pay down the debt. .
The two Democratic leaders, Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, also put the focus on Social Security today..
"We need a plan that will keep our commitments to Social Security and Medicare without making deep cuts in benefits, shortchanging our other national priorities or running deficits," said Mr. Daschle, the Senate majority leader. "Unfortunately the budget the administration submitted today is not that plan." .
Mr. Domenici acknowledged that Republicans had pledged to protect the Social Security surpluses and that he had once spoken of the need for a "lock box" to protect that money. But he said "that pales now in comparison with the challenges brought about by Sept. 11." .
Other Republicans also put an emphasis on the war effort. "We are living in dangerous and unprecedented times," said Representative Dick Armey of Texas, the House majority leader. Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois said the president had put forward a "responsible, common-sense budget that meets the needs of our nation in a time of war." .
The debate amounted to an odd role reversal for the parties, with Republicans defending increased spending and Democrats calling for fiscal discipline. .
A few conservative Republicans were pressing for a balanced budget, but House Republicans are expected to assemble a budget plan that closely resembles Mr. Bush's..
Democrats, who control the Senate by one vote, have little flexibility for drawing up a competing budget plan. Party leaders are reluctant to try to freeze or roll back part of Mr. Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut, fearful of being called big taxers. Nor do they want to look as if they do not support the military. .
"I can tell you what we're not going to do," Mr. Conrad said. "We're not going to raise taxes in the midst of an economic downturn. And we are going to supply the president with the resources necessary to fight this war." .
Heard that Kennedy and Miller are grousing about Bush's education budget for next year because for one particular program, he keeps the item flat. Never mind that this year the increase is 35%!
Somehow the Dems talking about fiscal responsibility just doesn't fly with me.
As long as you're $6T in debt, there is no surplus.
The only difference between Enron and the U.S. government is that Enron has been allowed to fail.
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