Statement on Signing the
Initial Order for Emergency Deficit Control Measures for Fiscal Year 1989
I
have today signed the initial emergency deficit control order for fiscal year 1989
required by the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit
Control Act. As of
The
Congress should take no comfort from the fact that the fiscal year 1989 Federal
budget has survived this preliminary examination. If the baseline estimate of
the Federal deficit had reached $146 billion, automatic cuts would have been
required. Taking into account three bills that I signed subsequent to the
August 15 snapshot date, the baseline estimate was $145.3 billion, leaving a
safety margin of only $.7 billion; and the Congress still has enacted only 2 of
the 13 appropriations bills for fiscal year 1989.
Unless
the Congress follows to the letter the bipartisan budget agreement to which the
congressional leadership and I agreed last November, this small margin of
safety will evaporate. In that case, congressional overspending will trigger
across-the-board cuts that slash high priority programs every bit as much as
lower priority programs.
I
urge the Congress to act swiftly and responsibly to pass the remaining 11
appropriations bills in compliance with the bipartisan budget agreement. If the
Congress sticks to its word, it will not trigger automatic cuts that are
damaging to essential programs upon which the American people depend.