Lott says Congress can't stay within spending caps

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., Thursday became the first Republican leader to publicly say Congress has effectively broken the FY2000 spending cap.

"I think we have to be honest and acknowledge that we're not going to meet caps, if for no other reason than we've had some emergencies. ... In reality, those caps are not going to be met," Lott said.

Lott said Congress could argue that technically it has not broken the $538 billion cap because emergency spending does not, by law, count against the cap. "[But] in fact, the caps are exceeded," Lott said.

He added, however, that the caps are "not the most important thing. What's most important is that we get our work done, not raid the Social Security surplus and not raise taxes" to pay for the fiscal 2000 appropriations bills.