Deficit blues
Amid tax-cut flurry, Congress must cooperate to balance budget

The latest stab at the Republican Contract with America was cut out when the Senate defeated the balanced budget amendment vote earlier this month. Two votes killed the proposal and highlighted America's failure to reduce the ever-growing deficit.

Now that the Republican plan has failed, it seems unlikely that Congress will pass any plan at all until the 1996 presidential elections.

Republicans and Democrats must work together to solve this problem. Senate Democrats have introduced their own balanced-budget proposal -- requiring the Senate to adopt a resolution this year that would balance the budget by 2002 -- and are asking Republicans, the Senate majority, to take the lead by recommending budget cuts.

Many Republicans believe that lowering income taxes on individual citizens and corporations will balance the budget. They argue that such a measure will increase revenues because the lower taxes will stimulate consumer spending. Another option is imposing a sin tax on cigarettes and alcohol to help pay for various social programs.

But the tax cuts the Republicans have proposed seem to benefit the rich, while cutting programs to assist the poor. A $500-per-child tax credit for families earning up to $200,000 a year is a perfect example of lining the pockets of the Republicans' rich friends at the expense of social programs. The unnecessary tax cuts will keep funds out of the federal budget that should first and foremost be balanced. If Congress is sincere about balancing the budget, the gamble on proposed tax cuts could actually worsen the deficit.

But as much as those reforms are needed, the politics in Washington, D.C. should not hinder the reduction of the deficit. Just as the Democrats gathered together to stop the Republican amendment, the Republicans have also attacked the Democrat plan without even considering it.

Such politicking by both sides must stop. Soon the interest on the deficit will become so expensive that funding for anything will be difficult. Congress must pass some type of plan that will decrease the deficit.

If Congress takes these reforms seriously, then our deficit problem can be lessened and eventually solved.