Treasury Chief Calls for Debt Reduction in ’01
Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said Sunday he expects “moderate” economic growth in 2001, and argued that federal debt reduction is crucial to economic health because it “really functions like a tax cut.”
The argument Summers made on “Fox News Sunday” runs counter to positions held by President-elect George W. Bush as he develops an economic policy that has his campaign tax-cut promises at its core. Bush and other Republicans, citing stock market slowdowns, and rising interest rates and oil prices worldwide, have argued that the economy is slackening and say significant across-the-board tax cuts could help ward off any slide toward recession.
Summers said the consensus of private economists forecast moderate growth through this year. While that will be cooler than the hot-running economy of early 2000, “that was inevitable,” Summers said.
Debt reduction versus tax relief was a familiar debate between Democrats and Republicans in the 2000 presidential campaign.
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