Reagan Budget well received

Press, 20 February 1988, Page 12

Reagan Budget well received

NZPA-Reuter Washington Members of Congress said they would accept the broad outlines of a SUSI.I trillion Budget proposed by President Reagan but would fight over details and priorities. In marked contrast to previous years when Congressional critics branded a succession of Reagan budgets “dead on arrival,” United States lawmakers this year predicted Mr Reagan would get much of what he asked for in the spending blueprint for the 1989 fiscal year, which begins on October 1.

They said there would be some disputes as the White House and Congress grappled over scarce federal funds.

“I don’t know of anything on the horizon that should derail the expeditious treatment of this Budget,” the New Mexico Senator, Pete Domenici, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, told reporters. He said Mr Reagan, who submitted the Budget on Thursday, should get most of what he sought for the military and at least half of his domestic budget proposals. “Nothing is going to happen this year other than what was in the

Budget agreement. It’s a done deal,” said Senator Ernest- Rollings, a South Carolina Democrat on the Budget panel. Mr Rollings was referring to a Budget accord reached between the White House and Congressional leaders in November,- 1987, following the October stock market crash.

The agreement set ceilings for domestic, foreign aid and defence spending to achieve a $76 billion ($113.2 billion) reduction in the Budget deficit over fiscal years 1988-89. Constrained by the agreement, Mr Reagan called for virtually no increase in defence spending in the coming year. After adjustment for inflation, the $294 billion request represented a small decline from fiscal 1988’s budget of $U5285.4 billion ($425.24 billion)

Within the over-all defence budget, however, Mr Reagan asked for SUS 4.6 billion ($6.8 billion) for his cherished Strategic Defence Initiative or “star wars” programme, SUSI billion more than last year. The Budget called for a slight increase in social programme spending, after adjustment for inflation.