Since revenue from the tobacco bill and other sources will not be available to offset many of the Clinton administration's spending requests, the White House must pick out new ones before the August recess, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston, R-La., wrote President Clinton Monday.
"At this point in the appropriations process, if you are serious about the increased spending, we need an indication from you on what offsets you intend for us to use to provide any increased spending. We need this information now," Livingston wrote.
An Office of Management and Budget spokeswoman responded that the administration "is ready to work constructively with Congress at the appropriate time to identify offsets." However, she noted that only one spending bill has made it all the way through Congress so far.
Clinton's budget included $9 billion in increased revenue to pay for additional discretionary spending, but "the offsets you have proposed have little, if any, political life," Livingston wrote, noting that the tobacco tax and the veterans tobacco limitation are either dead or have already been used for the highway bill.
"All of the proposals in the president's budget are paid for," said the OMB spokeswoman. Still, any new proposed offsets "must be real and doable" so that Congress can develop signable bills, Livingston wrote.
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