Decent Budget, Sorry Record

For all the self-congratulations among Democrats and Republicans on completing a budget accord, members of the 105th Congress head for their fall election campaigns leaving a sorry legislative record behind. Critical policy reforms from campaign finance to managed care to financial services were left unresolved in political wrangling. Agreement on a last-minute omnibus budget is perhaps the best that could be expected from what has been labeled a do-nothing Congress.

The $500-billion budget came late but wisely stripped of $80 billion in tax cuts that Republicans had sought. The White House and GOP leadership compromised on other important initiatives, which overall will serve the nation well.

In education, local school districts will receive $1.1 billion to recruit, hire and train 100,000 elementary school teachers. This was a major victory for President Clinton, who has made education a major focus of his administration. For California, the new education money will be helpful in the state’s campaign to reduce class sizes. Earlier this month, Clinton signed legislation to spend up to $140 million on new counseling and tutoring programs for low income, middle school children.

The budget also provides $18 billion as the U.S. commitment to help replenish the International Monetary Fund’s reserves. Funds allocated for agricultural disasters were set at$6 billion. And the two parties finally hammered out an agreement to postpone until April a partisan dispute over the White House’s plans for conducting the 2000 census, which determines how congressional districts will be drawn. A Supreme Court ruling next spring will determine whether statistical sampling, a hot partisan issue, will be allowed in the 2000 census.

Budget funding was also approved for the departments of Justice, State, Education, Labor and Interior. There’s money in the pot to fight illegal drugs and boost military readiness. The anti-drug funds will help control the inflow of narcotics from Latin America into California.

The spending bill also includes $9.2-billion worth of vastly stripped down tax relief. It extends several expiring tax breaks and provides modest new breaks to help farmers and small businesses.

Both parties congratulated themselves for what they did for the country. “We have a package that is good for America,” said Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. President Clinton declared, “This is a very, very good day for America.”

The broad outlines of the spending accord appear sensible and fiscally prudent, but as always the devil is in the details and a close look reveals goodies of questionable merit for congressional districts and special interests.

The budget has produced an illusion that Congress is leaving a surplus untouched for Social Security. In fact, budget negotiators agreed behind closed doors to allocate about $20 billion of those funds for government operations, emergency relief and a variety of pet projects. Among the pork barrel projects: $250,000 to an Illinois firm to research caffeinated chewing gum; $2 million for a storm shelter in Florida; $750,000 for grasshopper research in Alaska and $1 million for “peanut quality” research in Georgia.

The 105th Congress claims pride in its spending decisions. Aside from education, however, there have been few new initiatives.

Congress does get credit for a bipartisan compromise on a historic and sensible reform of public housing. The legislation creates more low-income housing, makes it easier for first-time home buyers and encourages mixed income neighborhoods. Shepherded in Washington by Andrew Cuomo, housing and urban development secretary, the new legislation creates 90,000 additional subsidized housing vouchers, which allow low-income working families to rent apartments at market rates. These coveted Section 8 certificates will put a dent in a years-long waiting list. The final version of the bill will also allow more families with higher incomes to move into public housing developments, including role-model working families.

But there was much left undone, leaving a legacy that hardly warrants bragging on the campaign stump in the weeks ahead.