Gop Candidates Differ On Budget Majority Leader Doubts Balance Can Be Achieved By Year 2000 As Gramm Promised
Republican presidential hopefuls Bob Dole and Phil Gramm on Sunday clashed over one of the chief issues on the GOP agenda - a balanced federal budget - with Dole saying his opponent’s promise to balance the budget by the year 2000 was impossible, and made only to “attract a few votes.”
The issue of a balanced budget is likely to become one of several major focal points for GOP contenders in the coming months as they begin positioning for the campaign ahead, trying to distinguish themselves from one another. Dole, R-Kan., the Senate majority leader and currently regarded as the front-runner in the growing list of GOP presidential candidates, has pledged a balanced budget by 2002.
“We have to be realistic,” said Dole, speaking on NBCTV’s “Meet the Press. “We can’t go out and make statements that may attract a few votes. You’ve got to tell the people the truth. It’s going to be tough enough to do it in seven years.”
But Gramm, appearing separately on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation,” said balancing the budget by the year 2000 was impossible only for Dole, and reiterated his pledge that he would not seek reelection if he fails to accomplish this goal.
The Texas senator insisted he would achieve a balanced budget within his first presidential term, and would do it through strict spending cuts. He refused to rule out reductions in Medicare benefits and other programs.
Asked specifically about the federal health program for the elderly, Gramm refused to be specific but said some kind of action was needed to control the program’s spiraling costs.
Dole acknowledged that “we’re going to make tough, tough cuts,” but appeared to take a softer stance than his GOP rival, noting that resistance exists against cutting many popular domestic social problems.
“You see what’s happened on the House side when you get into food stamps and nutrition programs and Medicaid,” Dole said. “You’ve got to be very careful, because the American people want to get things done, but we’re still a sensitive, caring nation and a sensitive, caring party, and there are some obligations the government has to people who can’t help themselves.”
Both GOP candidates promised that Americans’ tax burdens would be lower.
Both candidates said it was unlikely either would push for a constitutional amendment to ban abortions, although both described themselves as staunchly anti-abortion.
In other remarks, Dole indicated he would not seek the repeal of the Brady bill - the law that requires a waiting period before purchasing a handgun - although he supported legislation that would repeal the ban on semiautomatic assault weapons.
President Clinton has vowed to veto any attempts to weaken the crime bill Congress approved last year.
Dole again called on the public to “shame” Hollywood into cleaning up entertainment programming.