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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ColtonGang who wrote (172162)	8/16/2001 11:26:45 PM
From: puborectalis	Respond to of 769670

Democrats Cite Bush Budget Maneuver By CURT ANDERSON AP Tax Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats said Thursday a Bush administration accounting maneuver may avert an immediate invasion of the Social Security trust fund but demonstrates how the president's tax cut is quickly consuming projected budget surpluses. ``It's a sign of problems to come and a deteriorating budget,'' said Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee. ``Their motive is political. It's to pretty up the bottom line.'' White House officials will include the accounting change in next week's revised budget outlook for fiscal 2001, which ends Sept. 30. That forecast, and one later this month from the Congressional Budget Office, are expected to show a sharp drop in projected surpluses for this year and in the future because of the weak economy and the 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut. The net effect this year of the accounting change is to increase by $4.3 billion the amount Congress can use for spending or tax cuts, which may provide just enough room for lawmakers to keep a pledge not to tap Social Security money for other government programs. ``We are right on the verge of violating that fundamental understanding,'' Spratt said. In Crawford, Texas, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters that the revised budget projection, including the accounting change, would show a small surplus for government operations above the surplus in Social Security. ``Even with the weakening economy, the president's budget will produce the second-largest surplus in the history of the country,'' Fleischer said. The fight over the Social Security surplus is mainly a political one. The only practical impact of using some of the Social Security surplus for other purposes is that a lower amount of publicly held debt would be paid down. Benefits would not be affected. Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, chairman of the House Budget Committee, predicted that the tax cut would help the economy recover and that lower surplus projections will keep a lid on spending, not threaten Social Security and Medicare. ``We are using every single penny of Social Security and Medicare solely for Social Security and Medicare benefits,'' Nussle said. Spratt and two former Clinton administration officials said in a conference call with reporters that the accounting change shows that the tax cut was too large, removing any room for error in budget projections if other spending priorities such as education and defense are met. ``What we're seeing now is some of the harm,'' said Gene Sperling, who was President Clinton's top economic adviser. Sperling and Jack Lew, Clinton's former budget director, cited a move made by the tax cut bill as the major cause for the Bush accounting change. In the tax bill, the deadline for some $33 billion in corporate tax payments was moved from Sept. 15 to Oct. 1 so that the money would count toward fiscal 2002 — leaving a big hole in the 2001 budget. ``They created this problem already by an earlier gimmick,'' Sperling said. The Bush administration accounting maneuver involves payroll taxes that go into Social Security. In the past, those collections were estimated in one year and then reconciled in a future year with the actual money collected. The change would attribute the actual amounts for 1998, 1999 and 2000 to those years instead of to 2001, a $5.6 billion difference. Counting a second $1.3 billion change that involves the Postal Service, the non-Social Security part of the budget would net an additional $4.3 billion for 2001.