Clinton signs housing bill as budget negotiators talk numbers

October 20, 1999
Web posted at: 6:56 p.m. EDT (2256 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bill Clinton signed Wednesday a $99 billion bill for housing, veterans and space programs that he called a product of bipartisan cooperation.

"In spite of all the conflicts in the last few weeks, we still have a great opportunity to make this a season of progress," Clinton said at an Oval Office ceremony for the signing of the bill funding the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Veterans' Affairs Department and other agencies. "We've done it before and we can do it again. We will be stronger in the new century because of what we have achieved here today."

White House budget chief Jack Lew also traveled to Capitol Hill Wednesday to begin negotiations with congressional budget writers over those disputes, which include foreign aid, hiring teachers and buying park lands.

Lew met privately for more than an hour with senior members of the House and Senate Appropriations committees. More sessions were planned for Thursday.

There are 13 annual spending bills that make up the federal budget but disagreements between the president and Republican majority in Congress have blocked the enactment of eight of the bills.

Five of the bills either have been vetoed or face veto threats, and it is those measures that bargainers will focus on.

The fiscal 2000 year is already 20 days old. On Tuesday, Congress passed a second temporary funding measure that would keep the government operating at the previous year's levels. It is the second such extention, a previous stopgap measure expires Thursday night. Clinton is expected to sign the second temporary measure.

Social Security off-limits

On Tuesday evening, Clinton and Republican congressional leaders met at the White House and vowed not to touch Social Security surpluses to pay for the next round of federal spending.

At the 80-minute meeting, the two sides also agreed to try resolving their differences in a week. If they are unable to do so, White House officials say the president may veto the $268 billion defense bill -- a step that could increase his leverage by adding it to the measures from which savings could be extracted to pay for increases elsewhere in the budget.

"We'll hopefully get this thing wound up in a reasonable time," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois).

"I think there's a sense of urgency about getting this done and getting it done by next Tuesday when the president would have to start vetoing bills if it's not done," said House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Missouri) on Tuesday after the White House meeting.

Republicans said the president met their demands. "The president accepted our parameters -- not touching Social Security, not raising taxes," announced House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas).

Democrats weren't so sure. "The only thing taken off the table -- I think on a bipartisan basis -- is the utilization of the Social Security trust fund," said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota).

The taxes that Clinton had proposed included 55-cent-a-pack increase in the federal cigarette tax. But Clinton said Wednesday that he had only conceded that the GOP-controlled Congress was not supportive of the full 55-cent proposal.

"I still believe that it would be good health policy to have a more modest increase, or at least a look-back provision to protect kids from smoking," Clinton said.

Republicans have been adding billions of dollars to the outstanding bills, narrowing their differences with Clinton to less than $10 billion -- out of a total of about $145 billion in annual spending that lawmakers control. The measures cover the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, Education, Interior, State, Justice, Commerce and other agencies, plus foreign aid and the District of Columbia budget.

But GOP lawmakers are wary of any grand budget compromises with the White House and they stress they will pass government spending bills one at a time. But the president wants to add up all the numbers before he signs the measures and he set the one-week deadline for resolving all the major issues.

Promises vs. realities

The funding of old-age benefits by the Social Security Administration is a hot issue for voters that politicians on Capitol Hill are pushing in advance of the 2000 elections.

Each side is trying to woo older voters by promising they won't be the party to rob the Social Security trust fund, implying the fund may run dry for the massive pension program if the other side gets elected.

But all those surplus payroll taxes that have mounted up over the years have regularly been loaned by Social Security to the Treasury to cover the government's debts.

And should there come a time when the Social Security Administration finds itself a bit short, it will be up to the government to "find" the needed funds -- either by raising taxes or by running up the red ink again.

But while both sides were declaring victory over protecting Social Security, Congressional Budget Office analyses showed lawmakers are well on their way to spending those funds through their spending bills.

"We're still troubled by the CBO analysis that we're using Social Security trust funds, at least $19 billion," admitted Daschle.

The claim of protecting Social Security funds can also be used by lawmakers to defend themselves from critics should parts of the government be forced to shut down due to the budget disputes.

Clinton's proposals

Clinton brings his own expensive wish list to the budget talks:

• $1 billion to hire community police officers

• $1.4 billion to hire new teachers and reduce class sizes

• $600 million for federal park land purchases

• $2 billion more than Republicans are offering for overseas spending -- $800 million of that earmarked for the Middle East peace process

Republican lawmakers said the president can't pay for his expensive proposals without dipping into the Social Security surplus.

But the White House said Republicans are pointing the finger of blame in the wrong direction.

"The bills that they have written, under no duress from anyone, would spend the Social Security surplus," said White House spokesman Joe Lockhart.

The temporary spending measures have bought each side some time to search for a deal.

But the negotiations will test the goodwill both sides voiced after the initial White House meeting that left everyone talking of compromise -- but still far apart on how to reach that middle ground.

CNN's John King and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

RELATED STORIES

Congress averts shutdown while budget battle rages (9-28-99) Clinton touts higher-than-expected $115 billion budget surplus (9-27-99) Clinton vetoes tax bill; Republicans vow to press for cut (9-23-99) GOP revs up tax cut campaign (8-17-99) Republicans plan to avoid another government shutdown (8-9-99)

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