Honest Numbers? Clinton Puts Money on Congress’ Office

The President provided a moment of drama Wednesday night when he departed from scripted remarks to give a sharply partisan response to laughter from the Republican side of the chamber.

The exchange came as Republicans groaned and laughed about the President’s statement that his economic plan relied upon “the independent numbers of the Congressional Budget Office.”

That office was created by Congress to provide a source of economic and budget analysis independent of the executive branch. Although the CBO figures generally have been more accurate than those of the executive, many Republicans regard the office as biased because it is under the control of the majority party--the Democrats.

The Republicans voiced their skepticism when Clinton said that his plan would cut $140 billion from the federal deficit in the year 1997 alone.

“Well, you can laugh, my fellow Republicans,” Clinton said, “but I will point out that the Congressional Budget Office is normally more conservative on what was going to happen and closer to right than previous Presidents.”

The rejoinder, clearly a reference to former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, drew cheers and extended applause from Democrats.

“I did this so that we could argue about priorities with the same set of numbers,” Clinton said. “I did this so that no one could say I was estimating my way out of this difficulty.

“In the last 12 years,” he said, “because there were differences over the revenue estimates, you and I know that both parties were given greater elbow room for irresponsibility. This is tightening the rein on the Democrats as well as the Republicans.”