Budget Solution

A review of the 1986 budget debate to date:

1. President Reagan sends the budget to Congress in February, ruling out new taxes, cuts in defense spending and reductions in Social Security benefits. It is widely denounced as unworkable.

2. The Republican-controlled Senate Budget Committee rejects most of the President’s proposal in a budget rewrite that freezes defense and Social Security cost-of-living increases.

3. The White House, declaring no defense cuts, initiates negotiations with Senate Republican leaders.

4. In a White House-Senate compromise, Reagan embraces defense cuts and Social Security reductions. The White House calls it historic; Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole calls it “a starting point.”

5. The President goes on television April 24 to urge passage of the Republican compromise, and draws the line on any more defense cuts.

6. On April 30, as Reagan prepares to fly to West Germany, Dole calls for a vote and wins 50 to 49. “We proved we could keep the Republican majority together,” Dole says.

7. On May 1 the Republican majority falls apart as the Senate votes 65 to 34 to grant full Social Security increases.

8. On May 2, with Reagan lobbying by telephone from West Germany, the budget compromise continues to unravel, with the Senate approving by voice vote a freeze in defense spending at the level originally proposed by the Budget Committee (see No. 2). Senators also vote 81 to 18 to remove the freeze from other federal pensions.

9. White House spokesman Larry Speakes says, “We don’t think this is the end of the world.” Dole says, “We have made our best effort, and now we have to try something different.”

Remember, now, that neither the Senate Democrats nor the House of Representatives has gotten into the act. Nor has anyone in Congress formally grappled with a tax increase as an element in the budget-deficit puzzle.

The White House has claimed an election mandate to cut the deficit without cutting defense or considering any new tax revenues. But the President obviously has not been able to force that mandate into congressional action, even with his Senate GOP allies.

There can be a budget solution that significantly reduces the deficit, maintains a strong defense and protects the integrity of the Social Security system. Perhaps it can be achieved when the President returns from Europe and is willing to deal with Congress on a realistic basis and without the distractions of Nicaragua and the Bitburg cemetery.