Reagan Says He Cut Waste, Again Asks Item Veto
President Reagan claimed credit Saturday for making “enormous strides” in wringing waste out of government but argued again that the savings could be lost unless he gets the power to veto individual spending items in appropriation bills passed by Congress.
Continuing his drive to overhaul the federal budget process, Reagan accused Congress of hindering his campaign against excess spending by failing to grant him the line-item veto, a power he has sought since taking office in 1981.
The President, in his weekly radio address, said the “piece-by-piece change” wrought by his Administration’s drives against waste, fraud and abuse cannot control special-interest items slipped by Congress into important spending bills.
“We can no longer afford this costly all-or-nothing way of doing business,” Reagan said. “The President should be able to cut the fat, yet keep the meat of spending bills that reach his desk. The tool needed to cut that fat is the line-item veto.”
‘Maximum Benefit’
During his Administration, the President said, “we’ve made enormous strides in our efforts to ensure that you get the maximum benefit out of every tax dollar you send to Washington. Already, over $90 billion have been put to better use since we took office, and I fully expect this trend to continue.”
He cited several examples of savings, including $2.3 billion from better management of the government’s $1.8-trillion annual cash flow, $762 million from using the services of private travel companies and $300 million a year from the collection of payments on overdue federal loans. The President did not specify how much of the $90 billion in savings may have come from the elimination of waste, fraud and abuse, and how much was related to improved financial management techniques.
Reagan announced the formation of a private group of corporate leaders, led by federal cost-cutting consultant J. Peter Grace, which he said will “keep the focus on reducing costs, rather than raising taxes” to pay for federal operations.
Cost-Saving Measures
Grace, chairman of W. R. Grace & Co., headed a group appointed by Reagan in his first term that prepared a laundry list of cost-saving measures for the White House and Congress.
Details of Grace’s new group, called the United States Taxpayers Commission, were not disclosed Saturday. Reagan said, however, that he expects the body to “bring renewed interest to streamlined federal operations.”
Responding for congressional Democrats, Rep. Bob Wise of West Virginia agreed that fraud and waste hurt the nation’s workers, but he held that the imbalance of imports over exports is “even more harmful” to them.
Citing the near-record $15.7-billion trade deficit the Commerce Department reported in June, Wise said the figures underscored the need for enactment of legislation to penalize unfair international trade practices. A Senate-House conference is attempting to resolve substantial differences between trade bills that have passed the House and Senate despite Administration objections that they are unduly restrictive.
Also Saturday, Reagan signed a proclamation making Sept. 18 a day of honor for servicemen held as prisoners of war or missing in action, and he said a special POW-MIA flag would fly over the White House, the Capitol and other major government offices on that date.
Administration officials were in Vietnam and Laos earlier this month to reopen stalled talks on the U.S. effort to account for Americans missing in action from the Vietnam War.
