Copyright 1999 Newsday, Inc.
Newsday (New York, NY)
November 24, 1999, Wednesday ALL EDITIONS
SECTION: NEWS; Page A06
LENGTH: 1275 words
HEADLINE:
REPUBLICAN SHIFT ON BUDGET / EASING OF DISCIPLINE AFTER CONGRESSIONAL TRIUMPH IN
'95
BYLINE: By James S. Toedtman. WASHINGTON BUREAU
CHIEF
DATELINE: Washington
BODY:
By James S. Toedtman WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF
Washington - The "Republican Revolution" to shrink the size of the federal
government and return tax money and power to the people has come up a bit short.
Five years after recapturing Congress, declaring war on the federal
government and vowing to shut down huge portions of a bloated bureaucracy, the
Republican-controlled Congress finished work on the fiscal year 2000 budget that
was balanced without a tax increase and without tapping the Social Security
Trust Fund, both rallying points for Republicans.
But in the details of
the new spending plan is the harsh reality that three departments and most of
the 14 agencies and 283 spending programs targeted for extinction have avoided
the hangman and in most cases actually grown. Some of the programs that were
shut down by House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his followers in 1995 and 1996 have
been revived this year. In short, the era of big government may be over, but the
trophies ballyhooed with much fanfare during the raucous months of early 1995
are thriving. "It's a little hard to find the Republican Revolution right now,"
said Stan Collender, budget analyst for the Fleischman Hillard public relations
firm. The Education, Commerce and Energy Departments, which were supposed to be
closed down, have grown by 19.6 percent. Agencies such as the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting, the Economic Development Administration and the
Legal Services Corp. that were ideological and political
targets of the Republicans have stayed in business.
A host of other
programs, including Clinton's AmeriCorps national service program, heating
assistance funds for low-income seniors, the earned income-tax credit for poor
workers, Head Start, job training for those who lost their jobs because of
rising imports, the commissions for the arts and humanities and summer jobs
programs have also weathered the onslaught.
Goals 2000, Clinton's
signature educational initiative, may be the only administration initiative
scrapped when its funding expires next year. It has grown from $ 230 million to
$ 490 million since 1995, but it was sacrificed to achieve another White House
proposal - hiring 100,000 new teachers.
There are many reasons for the
retreat. Rep. John Kasich (R-Ohio), the hyperkinetic chairman of the House
Budget Committee and cheerleader for the revolutionaries, laments the turnaround
and says that budget surpluses have tempered the passion of the budget hawks.
"We came here with a moral commitment to balance the budget. Once we got it to
balance, people began saying, 'Why do we need to worry about making government
smaller?' " he said.
Others cite a retreat by Republican troops after
the miscalculations by their leaders, particularly the government shutdown four
years ago. "They thought that was a winner," said John Berthoud, president of
the National Taxpayers Union, an antitax interest group. "And when it wasn't,
they overread the results." Rep. Michael Forbes (D-Quogue), who was elected in
1994 with the help of Gingrich's Contract With America rhetoric and its pledge
to downsize government, but has now switched parties, says Republican leaders
overplayed their hand. "There has been a slowing of spending, and that's a good
thing. But they overreached. Their intolerance and mean-spirited approach has
left people betrayed by their leaders. The Republicans went after some programs
like the earned income-tax credit, an incentive for the poor to work, for
example. In the end they went too far and eventually were undermined by their
lack of public support." Since 1995, Congress has shut down about 300 programs
at a savings of $ 3 billion, barely measurable in a $ 1.8-trillion annual
budget. Those that survived continue to grow. During the negotiations for the
2000 budget, the retreat of the budget cutters was frequently apparent. In 1995,
Congress embraced free markets and passed the Freedom to Farm bill, which phased
out federal subsidies. This year, Congress included $ 9 billion in emergency aid
to farmers, and a tax incentive for converting chicken waste into energy is
still being debated. In 1995, the transportation appropriations bill included no
highway demonstration projects, a traditional vehicle for pork barrel spending.
This year's transportation bill had more than 200 local projects.
Budget discipline has also eased. In 1995, any new spending had to be
offset by comparable cuts. "They were demanding cuts in spending to offset the
cost of emergency flooding in North Dakota," said Collender.
"Today,
they're declaring emergencies for programs that have been ongoing for 200
years," a reference to the 2000 Census, whose $ 4.5 billion cost was funded as
an "emergency" to evade spending caps set in 1997. "It's the biggest collection
of gimmicks we've ever seen," he said.
Killing programs remains
difficult. This year, House Republicans tried to close 24 more, including the
Selective Service System, which once administered the draft and now spends $ 25
million a year to keep records. But the Senate blocked the shutdown.
At
the same time, Congress resuscitated a program killed in 1996, the Stateside
Land and Water Conservation Fund, a popular 34-year-old program used by states
to buy and maintain recreation areas. It has been used aggressively by New York
State to purchase and fix an estimated 1,100 beaches and recreation areas in New
York at a total cost of $ 500 million. Although the program funded projects
including the Wollman Ice Skating Rink in Central Park, the Crotona Park
swimming pool in the Bronx, Robert Moses State Park improvements, Napeague Dunes
acquisition and Belmont State Park upkeep, no one argued when the program was
terminated in 1996.
That changed this spring when the nation's governors
and mayors appealed to Congress. Gov. George Pataki wrote Senate and House
members, an appeal echoed in a letter to the state congressional delegation from
Parks Commissioner Bernadette Castro and Department of Environmental
Conservation Commissioner John Cahill. Citing "an outpouring of interest" from
the "friends of parks and open spaces," they called on Congress to reopen the
pipeline.
With the popularity of local parks projects, and a tough
election ahead next year, pragmatism trumped ideology as 55 Republicans,
including House leaders Tom DeLay and Dick Armey of Texas as well as Rep. Peter
King of Seaford, joined 157 Democrats to secure at least $ 20 million in the
final Interior Department appropriation.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who
itemized $ 13 billion in pork barrel projects sprinkled throughout the budget,
called the $ 20 million "far below what is necessary" for the program.
"Unfortunately," he said, "it's penalized due to other low-priority and
special-interest spending." "The triumphalism of 1994 is long gone," said
Heritage Foundation's congressional expert Marshall Wittman. "It's been replaced
by survivalism." Of the Republican strategists, Kasich's change from zealot to
philosopher reflects the changed congressional dynamic. Five years ago he led
the Republican cheers as the House passed its ambitious budget plan. "Our vision
is to take the power and the money and control and influence from people in this
city and give it back to the men and women in every city, town and village in
America." Several weeks ago, a more reflective Kasich, who is retiring from
Congress at age 47, talked of context. "We sat down five years ago, and we
plotted a road map. We have made some real progress. Have we made all the
progress that I would like? Of course not. But we are moving forward."
GRAPHIC: AP File Photo - Rep. John Kasich (R-Ohio)
laments the GOP turnaround. Chart - Funding Picture (NOT IN TEXT DATABASE)
LOAD-DATE: November 24, 1999 
