Kind says newly approved federal budget 'lacks fiscal discipline'

By Judy Wiff

As President Clinton prepared to sign the $390 million federal budget package Monday morning, Congressman Ron Kind was back in Western Wisconsin toting around a foot-high stack of papers tied neatly with strong string.

The stack is the thousand-page budget. Rank-and-file congressmen had the final version of the document just two hours before they were asked to vote on it.

Kind voted no. On Nov. 18 the House of Representatives adopted the budget on a vote of 296-135. The next day the Senate approved it on a vote of 74-24.

"During the middle of the debate, I tried to sift through this," said Kind, D-La Crosse. The effort was nearly fruitless.

Kind said he and Rep. David Obey, D-Wausau, tried to delay the vote by asking for motions to adjourn or to remand the budget for further consideration. They failed.

Kind did know enough about the package to know he didn't like it.

"It lacks fiscal discipline," he complained. The budget spends $18 billion of the Social Security surplus and it exceeds spending caps by $35 billion, said Kind.

"It's a blatant violation of an agreement," said Kind.

The budget bill also includes a provision continuing the current milk pricing system.

The government had been on the verge of dumping its Depression-era system for setting the price paid to farmers for milk.

Kind said he and other lawmakers went to the House leadership, and those leaders promised they wouldn't allow anti-reform language to be inserted in the budget bill at the last minute. But when the package finally came out, there it was.

"This was just another example of promises made, promises broken," said Kind.

"It wasn't a cure-all," said Kind of the plan to revise Federal Milk Marketing Order program. But, he said, "It would have been an improvement."

Senators, who tout fair trade internationally, should especially be called to account for their position on the marketing orders and the Northeast Dairy Compact, said Kind. "They're not supporting fair trade domestically."

Since the budget vote, Kind has compiled lists of pork barrel projects inserted to earn support from particular congressmen.

The pork barrel practice trades favors for votes, said Kind. "They're able to buy enough people off with projects."

The worst example, he said, is funding to build a $1.5 billion ship at a Mississippi shipyard.

The Department of Defense doesn't want the ship and would rather spend the money for military readiness, said Kind.

But, he said, the appropriation was inserted at the wishes of Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. "Obviously Senator Lott did it for some jobs down in Mississippi," said Kind.

The budget does adjust the reimbursement formula for home care programs, especially those in rural areas, said Kind. Those adjustments, although not permanent fixes, will provide a little breathing room for counties and agencies trying to provide health care to allow the elderly and handicapped to stay in their own homes, he said.

The budget won't preserve Social Security or Medicare by one day, and it's a clear sign that it is "business as usual" in Washington, D.C., said Kind.

He said he proposed giving lawmakers 24 hours to review to the budget package, but that proposal failed. "The leadership doesn't want the scrutiny, doesn't want the sunshine," said Kind.

Ten days later, Kind hasn't finished studying the budget. "I'm still trying to go through it all," he said.

All in all, federal lawmakers had "a pretty unproductive session this year," he summarized.

"I'm disgusted (that) the hardest thing to change in Washington is the status quo."