The coalition of House Republicans and moderates trying to find offsets to pay for the expected fiscal 1998 emergency supplemental appropriations bill has added a new item to their menu of proposed offsets, consolidating federal public health services programs into a single block grant, which they say will save 10 percent of overhead costs, or an estimated $1.15 billion.
In a letter to the House Republican Conference Wednesday, members of the moderate Tuesday Group and the Conservative Action Team asked GOP colleagues to indicate whether they object to four proposed offsets: the health services block grant; rescinding spending provisions previously line-item vetoed by the president, for a savings of $190 million; reducing spending on the Education Department's Impact Aid Part B program by $66 million; and allowing the private purchase of utilities at closed Defense Department bases, for a savings of $100 million.
On the tax cut front, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., released a letter he received Wednesday from Congressional Budget Office Director June O'Neill stating, "None of the income tax provisions of [the $80 billion tax cut bill the House passed] would affect the Social Security trust fund," although two provisions "would have a tiny effect on the balances in the Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund."
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