Cap busters

Reviled at the time, the 1990 budget accord that forced President George Bush to take back his lips also forced fiscal responsibility on Congress and played a large role in the balanced budget this year. To be fiscally responsible now, Congress should exceed those caps and meet its obligations to the states. Before it does that, however, a meeting similar to the one in 1990 should be held to re-establish the checks and balances needed to maintain the spending discipline of the last decade.

The 1990 agreement unfairly cost President Bush votes from fiscal conservatives in the ’92 election because it brought spending restraint at the price of needed tax increases. In hindsight, few would disagree with the effectiveness of the plan laid out by Mr. Bush’s budget director, Richard Darmen. The federal government went from deficits of $200 million a year to surpluses in a relatively short time. And, yes, the surpluses assume a raid on Social Security funds, but so did the deficits of previous years.

Now, however, the spending caps are denying money to programs the federal government should be funding. One of those being discussed now in Maine is special education. Washington is expected to fund 40 percent of a state’s special-education costs but, in 1998, provided only about 8 percent. That meant Maine schools had to come up with an additional $60 million. If Maine wants the money for this and other programs, the spending caps will be broken.

The reason for this is, even if members of Congress ignored inflation and simply spent as much money next year as it is doing now, it will exceed the the caps by $26 billion. If it offers raises to members of the military and adds education funding, as both parties propose to do, the number will be several billion dollars higher.

How much higher it goes, however, depends on the foresight of members of Congress this session. A surplus combined with an honest demand for more spending in some areas could start a stampede of porkers. And Maine does not fair well when this happens.

Finding a rational way to reset the spending caps so that they pay for needed services but continue to leave the budget balanced will not be easy. But, after all this Congress has inflicted on the American public this winter, the least it could do is leave a legacy that includes not messing up nearly a decade of budget discipline.