President, GOP Will Hold Budget Summit

WASHINGTON — After months of talking past each other on the federal budget, President Clinton and Republican leaders Monday agreed to meet today to hash out disputed spending priorities that range from hiring more teachers to promoting peace in the Middle East.

Clinton proposed the rare meeting even as he vetoed a $12.7-billion foreign aid bill that he said would shortchange the U.S. role in the world, largely because of a proposed GOP cut in financial assistance to other nations.

Republicans agreed to the White House meeting despite their long-standing fear that engaging in broad budget talks with Clinton ultimately would give him the upper hand in negotiations.

“That’s music to my ears,” House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) said of Clinton’s invitation.

The budget issue is coming to a head this week because the government is operating under a temporary spending bill that expires at midnight Thursday (the new federal fiscal year began Oct. 1). Determined to avoid a funding lapse that could close parts of the government, both GOP leaders and Clinton acknowledged that the stopgap measure will have to be extended to allow more time to resolve their differences.

Today’s White House session comes at a time of nearly unprecedented tensions between the president and Congress on a number of fronts. Two weeks ago, the Senate voted down one of his nominations to a federal district judgeship--the first such rejection since 1951. Last week, the Senate rejected a nuclear test ban treaty that was a cornerstone of Clinton’s foreign policy--the first such defeat of an international treaty since 1920.

In his Monday veto of the foreign aid bill, Clinton echoed some of the vitriol he expressed after the test-ban treaty vote, when he accused Republicans of retreating from international engagement. As sent to the White House, the foreign aid measure would have reduced his request by $2 billion. Clinton criticized the proposed cut as “the next big chapter in the new American isolationism.”

“Like the Senate’s recent vote to defeat the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, this bill reflects an inexcusable and potentially dangerous complacency about the opportunities and risks America faces in the world today,” Clinton said.

Against that backdrop of acrimony and mistrust, some on Capitol Hill remained pessimistic that much progress would be made at today’s budget meeting, which is to include the top five Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress. Still, it will be the first face-to-face meeting Clinton has had with GOP leaders on the budget this year.

Republicans have been hoping to wrap up the annual budget process within the next few weeks and then adjourn for the year. But Clinton has signed only five of the 13 appropriations bills needed to run the government. He has vetoed two--the foreign aid bill and the budget for the District of Columbia--and has threatened to veto four more.

The dispute, in part, is about how to set priorities in a new era of fiscal plenty. After decades of red ink, the government is expected to run a surplus of $14 billion--not including the $147 billion in surplus revenues attributable to Social Security taxes. Both Clinton and Republican leaders have promised this year to end the past practice of using Social Security revenues to finance other government programs. Both sides have accused the other of pushing proposals that would break that promise and of trying to hide the failure with accounting gimmickry.

Jousting over these broad spending matters will be a major part of today’s White House talks. Eventually the two sides will have to resolve substantive differences in their spending priorities. Among the big disputes:

* Education. Clinton has insisted on specific funding for his multiyear proposal to hire 100,000 new teachers to help schools reduce class sizes. Republicans want to replace that program with a grant to states that allows but does not require them to use the money for reducing class size. Instead, the funds could be used for other educational needs.

* Environment. A bill funding the Interior Department includes a number of “riders” that Clinton opposes because he believes they would weaken environmental protections. The bill also would cut funding for a Clinton initiative to buy and protect environmentally sensitive lands.

* Defense. Although Clinton previously had signaled that he would sign the annual Pentagon appropriations bill, officials now say that its fate is unclear. The $278-billion bill calls for $17 billion more in defense spending than in fiscal 1999, an increase Republicans have trumpeted. But Clinton is reluctant to sign the measure into law until he sees how funding for other areas works out.

The foreign aid bill also looms as a major point of contention. As approved by Congress, the bill includes $3.5 billion for military aid abroad, $7.5 billion for bilateral economic assistance, $1.1 billion for multilateral aid through such institutions as the World Bank, and $599 million for export assistance through such agencies as the Export-Import Bank. Its total represents a 14% cut from the amount Clinton requested.

This proposed reduction was a cornerstone of the GOP strategy to keep overall spending in check. Foreign aid is not usually popular among voters or lawmakers, so it was an inviting target as Republicans looked for ways to keep from dipping into Social Security surpluses.

One of Clinton’s biggest complaints about the bill is that it includes none of the $500 million he had requested to follow up on the 1998 Middle East peace agreement reached at the Wye Plantation in Maryland. Clinton requested the funding as part of a three-year, $1.9-billion plan of military and economic aid to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians.

Congress’ failure to provide the initial $500 million did not reflect GOP opposition to the peace agreement, GOP aides said, but simply a harsh budget reality: They could not figure out what other programs to cut to pay for it.

Republicans also complained that the President did not provide detailed justification for the initiative until last week.

“We were trying to figure out, what do you really need this year?” said a top aide to the Senate Appropriations Committee. “Now that we have more information, we will probably provide it before we adjourn, or first thing when we get back next year.”

But Clinton complained that the omission “sends the worst possible message to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians about America’s commitment to the peace process.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Foreign Spending by U.S.

President Clinton vetoed legislation to fund U.S. assistance to other nations, saying it shortchanged America’s role in the world. It would have provided about $2 billion less than he requested, including:

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Assistance Clinton’s Request The Vetoed Bill Export and investment $685,000 $599,000 Bilateral help 8,287,037 7,531,417 Military aid 3,956,000 3,542,000 Multilateral economic 1,687,498 1,064,918 Grand Total $14,615,535 $12,737,335

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Source: House and Senate Appropriations Committees