GOP Leader: Balance in '98

Jumping out in front of the rest of the GOP leadership, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, today called for Congress to find $5 billion in rescissions soon after returning later this month in an effort to balance the budget in fiscal 1998.

"The latest CBO projections show that the deficit for this year now stands at $5 billion," DeLay said in a statement. "I propose that we rescind $5 billion in the current budget by making common sense reforms to government spending."

DeLay said the rescission package should be "the first priority of this session of Congress," adding that a tax cut plan should be considered later. DeLay did not specify what cuts should be made to balance the budget.

While DeLay is the first House GOP leader to call for an immediate attempt to balance the budget, four Republican senators last week made a similar plea. An aide to House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., said today that Republican leaders have not discussed the possibility of an early rescission package, but said it will be considered when the leadership meets later this month. A key House conservative, Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind., said Wednesday he believes such a plan will be attractive to many members, but said there is great competition among various interests.

However, a senior Republican House Appropriations Committee aide urged caution. "We need to make a whole bunch of decisions," the aide said. "We ought to have meeting after meeting to the point of exhaustion to figure out how we want to proceed."

The aide said Congress will be confronted with the need to pass a supplemental spending package to deal with the Bosnia mission, as well as the possibility of additional International Monetary Fund money. The aide said GOP leaders have demanded that all supplemental spending be paid for, so offsets would have to be found for that money. In addition, the aide said the Clinton administration does not have an "affinity for paying for defense," and that the administration may resist rescinding money for other programs.