President Clinton has wrapped up work on his first full budget and says it will drive the deficit down to its lowest level in six years while still providing new spending for his top priorities.
However, Clinton and other administration officials are conceding that the budget they will send Congress on Feb. 7 is not without pain. It would end or reduce funding for hundreds of government programs while eliminating 100,000 federal jobs by the end of 1995.Clinton noted that the proposed budget for the 1995 fiscal year, which begins next Oct. 1, would cut spending levels in nine of the government's 14 biggest agencies below current levels.
The administration was forced to do this to find funding for Clinton initiatives in education, crime fighting and environmental cleanup while still meeting stringent budget caps for discretionary spending established by Congress last year.
The Clinton budget would reduce the 1995 deficit to $190 billion, its lowest level since 1989. That would be $68.7 billion below the projected deficit for this year and compares to an estimated 1995 deficit of $301 billion when Clinton took office.
In an interview with radio reporters, the president called this "quite an important achievement."
He said the deficit reduction was accomplished while the administration was still able to provide "substantial increases in the investments I think are important to our future" in such areas as education, crime fighting, job training, children's health and defense conversion.
However, to pay for increases in Clinton's "investment" categories, spending had to be reduced elsewhere to stay within a $540 billion ceiling on discretionary spending.