CBO Director June O'Neill told the House Budget Committee Thursday that President Clinton's budget initiatives unveiled earlier this week would likely exceed spending caps by about $37 billion before fiscal 2000.
"The administration is not following the rules," O'Neill said, but added the CBO would not have a formal estimate "of the effect of the president's policies and plans" until early March.
Under current policies, however, O'Neill said a "basic comparison" of CBO projections with the administration's showed few major differences in budget predictions.
On the question of possible surpluses, O'Neill said, with the CBO's FY98 projected budget deficit so small, surpluses could appear at any time.
"That's possible. ... It really wouldn't take much, a puff of wind, for this to happen," O'Neill said.
O'Neill said CBO projections depart from the administration's in their estimation of Medicare spending, which the CBO puts at about $50 billion more over the next six years than does the administration.
House Budget Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio, asked O'Neill whether it would be possible for Congress to receive "week-to-week totals to find out what's going on with revenue projections," instead of waiting until April.
O'Neill indicated that might be difficult, but noted the CBO did post information monthly on its Internet site. She also said the CBO would have firm revenue projections by early May, following the April 15 tax filing deadline.
And hoping to "better control spending, balance the budget and make Congress accountable," Kasich also Thursday appointed Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, to head a committee task force to develop reforms on the budget process.
"Congress may have balanced the annual federal checkbook, but we can't have a `surplus' when we're only making minimum payments on the federal debt," Nussle said in a statement.
Rep. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., was appointed ranking member of the panel. The other members are Reps. George Radanovich, R- Calif.; Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va.; John Sununu, R-N.H.; Kay Granger, R-Texas; and David Minge, D-Minn.
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