A Balanced Budget?

A Balanced Budget?

This year President Clinton will submit his proposed legislation for the

Federal Budget to Congress. The fact that we have divided government (ex.,

Democratic President, Republican majority in Congress) means the majority of that legislation won't make it through the first ten minutes of a Congressional session. The President in turn will veto legislation presented to him by

Congress. The whole situation is a vicious, never ending circle. Each side is looking out for their own best interests, and after years, even decades of this the United States has a huge budget deficit. Is there a solution to all this madness? Is it feasible to balance the Federal Budget? Every politician on

Capitol Hill claims to have the answer. The Federal Government goes as far to employ some of the most renowned economist's in the world to try to solve the deficit mess, and they still haven't figured it out.

The budget simulation exercise by The Committee for a Responsible

Federal Budget provided choices Congress has to use as its guide for the upcoming year. How hard can it be to balance the budget I thought? After doing the exercised I realized the title of the simulation exercise, "The FY 1997

Budget: An Exercise in Hard Choices," could not have been more appropriate. It is possible though to balance the Federal Budget, provided you follow 3 simple rules. First you must decide what you feel is important, then cut without consciousness, and if that doesn't work, alter your baseline.

Important Choices

When deciding on what I thought was important to protect in the budget,

I felt like a politician myself. I protected my own self interests. First up was

Defense. The fact that I am in the Marine Officer Program weighed heavily on my decision to increase Defense spending by 17.6 billion (all amounts in billions, unless noted), following the Congressional Budget Resolution. The President's plan just didn't provide enough capital, the Congressional Black

Caucus/Progressive Caucus would basically wipe out my career before it even starts, and I just can not have that. Next up is Education. Without the direct student loan program, I would have no way to fund my education other than going to some bank and going through the demeaning process of begging a loan officer to lend me money for school. I feel a sense of loyalty to the President on this issue, because without this program I would still be doing concrete construction back home in Indiana. As a result, I voted to increase Educational spending

33.4.My other concern or problem area is Administration of Justice.