Budget Office Report Lists 97 Ways to Cut Deficit

The Congressional Budget Office issued its annual report Wednesday and listed 97 ways in which the government could cut the federal deficit, from changes in Medicare to slowing down the “Star Wars” defense program.

The report, required by law, emphasizes that the items mentioned are only possibilities and not recommendations for action.

‘Quite Appalling’

“Many are quite appalling to a number of people, I’m sure,” agency Director Rudolph Penner said in testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee.

The CBO report estimated that slowing growth of the “Star Wars” program could save $1.2 billion in fiscal 1988, which begins Oct. 1, and increasing amounts in each of the next four years, for a five-year total of $8.7 billion.

Other options analyzed by the bipartisan budget office include abandoning the space station program, which could trim $8 billion from President Reagan’s spending proposals for the next five years, and canceling the replacement shuttle for Challenger, which could save $2 billion.

Cuts in Farm Subsidies

Other possibilities would involve changing the methods of calculating federal payments under the Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs for the elderly and the poor, to save up to $27 billion over five years, and reducing certain farm subsidy payments, to save $6 billion.

Limiting cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security recipients would save $63 billion, the report said.

Under the balanced budget law, the government is required to shrink its deficit to $108 billion in the new fiscal year.

Reagan Proposals

Reagan is proposing a $1.02-trillion budget aimed at meeting that goal by cutting domestic programs, selling government property and ordering new fees for people who use government land.

But the CBO said its analysis does not agree with the President’s calculations and that additional cuts or revenue increases of between $27 billion and $32 billion are needed to meet the deficit-cutting goal.