For Budget Cuts? Expect Some Pain

The most important steps toward reduction of the federal budget deficit won’t be taken today. Sure, the Senate’s about to vote on the balanced budget amendment. However, it’s the actual budget cutting that counts.

And if actual budget cutting occurs, the voters who asked for it are going to feel a pinch. Consider, for example, the voters in the 5th Congressional District. In Spokane County, the district’s population center, government is a leading source of jobs - especially, jobs that pay a family wage.

As of late 1993, the largest private employers in the county were Sacred Heart Medical Center at approximately 3,000 jobs and Kaiser Aluminum at 2,700. But the federal government employed a whopping 8,400; state government, 9,600; School District 81, 2,900; the City of Spokane, 2,000; Spokane County, 1,700 … All of those non-federal agencies get some of their funds from the feds.

As of 1992, the federal government spent a total of $2.7 billion in the 5th District, half of it for some very popular grant programs: Medicare, Social Security, aid to the poor, farm subsidies and pensions to retired government workers.

Some if not all of those outlays will have to undergo cuts, to balance the federal budget.

And now, for a glimpse of our future: Last week, 5th District Rep. George Nethercutt fought to protect valued federal expenditures. Namely, two Bureau of Mines offices in Spokane, and a wheat breeding program at Washington State University. Nethercutt’s foes included Republicans like himself, who ran on a spending-cut platform. In addition, he was fighting an apparent attempt by the Clinton administration to punish districts that voted Republican.

Was the administration engaged in a blatant partisan abuse? Probably. It won’t be the last one. The cutting will get bloody, and political. New York vs. Washington. California vs. Idaho. Democrats vs. Republicans. Nethercutt was doing his duty to his district last week. So will others.

There are reasoned arguments to be made for nearly every outlay in the federal budget. Is an appropriation “pork” just because it benefits one district’s economy? No.

Government is easily attacked when it has no face. However, government in fact is a job for your neighbor, a pension for your uncle, nursing home care for your grandmother and economic survival for the farmers on the edge of town.

Yes, government should spend and do less. But the cuts won’t just hurt in Washington, D.C. They’ll hurt right here at home. Brace yourself.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster/For the editorial board