The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 23, 2001, Page 7, Image 7
Bush’s hopes for budget
rely on economic boost
BY CURT ANDERSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - The Bush ad
ministration is pinning its bud
get hopes on a rapid, robust eco
nomic recovery driven by its
huge tax cut despite figures re
leased Wednesday that show a
steep drop in the government sur
pluses projected for 2001 and 2002.
The White House Office of
Management and Budget is ex
pecting an economic rebound
next year, including a growth
rate of 3.2 percent in gross do
mestic product. That’s nearly
double the anemic 1.7 percent
rate forecast for this year and
higher than the 2.8 percent rate
consensus of many private econ
omists.
Budget Director Mitch Daniels
said the 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax
cut President Bush signed into
law in June - coupled with re
strained government spending
and the Federal Reserve’s inter
est rate cuts - would boost U.S.
economic growth and fortify the
budget bottom line.
“Economic growth is the key _
to continuing this very strong fis
cal picture,” Daniels told re
porters. "A return to economic
growth will be the focus of the
president and the administration
in the months ahead.”
The impact of the economic
slowdown and the $40 billion in
tax refund checks was apparent
in the midyear budget outlook re
leased Wednesday by the White
House. It estimated a fiscal 2001
surplus of $158 billion, only $1 bil
lion above the tax receipts that
flow to Social Security. The revi
sion is $123 billion less than the
last estimate in April but the sur
plus still will be the second
largest ever.
A similarly tiny non-Social Se
curity surplus of $1 billion is now
expected in fiscal 2002, which be
gins Oct. 1. That represents a $58
billion drop from the April esti
mate, for an overall surplus of
$173 billion next year that is al
most entirely Social Security.
An even starker view of the
shrinking surplus may come
when the nonpartisan Congres
sional Budget Office issues a ri
val forecast next week. Budget
analysts widely believe the CBO
projections will show a less fa
vorable 2001 surplus and be less
aggressive in predicting future
economic growth rates.
Despite the near-term decline,
the OMB expects am overaill sur
plus of more than $3.1 trillion
over 10 years - down from $5.6
trillion before the tax cut and oth
er changes - even accounting for
the tax cut and proposed spend
ing increases. Among these
spending increases: $198 billion
more for defense and $37 billion
extra for a Medicare overhaul
that includes a prescription drug
benefit.
Senate Budget Committee
Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D.,
said the administration’s growth
forecast is unrealistic and that
Bush will be forced to dip into So
cial Security and Medicare trust
funds to keep the tax cut and still
pay for defense, education and
other priorities.
"They have got a phony bud
get, and they’re going to have
nothing but trouble because they
tried to make their big tax cut fit
in,” Conrad said.
Space shuttle returns to Earth
BY MARCIA DUNN
AP AEROSPACE WRITER
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space
shuttle Discovery glided to a
landing Wednesday, bringing
home three spacefarers who
spent nearly six months aboard
the international space station.
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Us
achev and his American crew
mates, Susan Helms and Jim
Voss, were weak and wobbly af
ter spending so much time in
weightlessness but managed to
walk off the shuttle, instead of be
ing carried off on stretchers.
Shuttle commander Scott
Horowitz reported that all three
were doing great.
"In fact, we were surprised,”
Horowitz said after he and the six
others who returned aboard Dis
covery left the shuttle. "It looked
like they were doing a little bet
ter than us when we got off the
vehicle today, so they’re real
troupers. They had a great mis
sion.”
Their homecoming was de
layed 11/2 hours by dark clouds
and rain near the landing strip.
When Mission Control finally
gave Discovery clearance to land,
the three former space station
residents cheered so loudly that
the rest of the crew, seated up
stairs, could hear them without
the intercom.
The midafternoon landing
ended a 167-day mission for Us
achev, Helms and Voss, just 21
days shy of NASA’s space en
durance record. They circled
Earth about 2,600 times and
logged 70 million miles during
the adventure.
About 300 people gathered
along the Kennedy Space Center
runway to welcome back Discov
ery and, in particular, the space
station’s second resident crew.
Among the well-wishers: the
wives and daughters of Usachev
and Voss and the parents of
Helms, who is single.
The reunion “made my heart
beat fast,” said shuttle astronaut
Daniel Barry.
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