Budget surplus announced
WASHINGTON (AP) - The gov
ernment will run a surplus of about
$70 billion this year, the first black
ink budget in 29 years, President
Clinton said Wednesday.
Eager to claim credit, he called
the turnaround after years of huge
deficits “a gift-giving achievement
for generations to come.”
Republicans were quick to say the
surplus was mostly their work, that it
came about despite Clinton and that it
was time to put part of the extra
money back in the pockets of taxpay
ers.
“We stopped the flow of red ink
and balanced the budget,” said House
Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. He
accused Clinton of wanting to spend
billions more on “big liberal bureau
cracies.”
For all the crowing about the first
budget surplus since 1969, when
Richard Nixon was president, Neil
Armstrong walked on the moon and a
can of Coke cost 15 cents, little was
said about the possibility that an eco
nomic recession could wipe out pro
jections of continued black-ink bud
get.
The Congressional Budget Office
predicts an eye-popping $1.6 trillion
in surpluses over the next 11 years.
Looming after that are potentially
deep budgetary troubles because of
the huge drain retiring baby boomers
are expected to make on Social
Security, Medicare and other federal
programs.
Appearing at a White House cere
mony beside a sign flashing the word
“surplus” in orange lights, Clinton
said the door is now open to sustained
American economic prosperity into
the 21st century.
“Tonight at midnight, America
puts an end to three decades of
deficits and launches an era of bal
anced budgets and surpluses,”
Clinton told a handpicked audience
of Democrats - including several
who lost their congressional seats in
1994 after voting for Clinton’s
deficit-reduction plan.
“It is a landmark achievement,
not just for those in this room who
have played a role in it, but indeed for
all the American people,” Clinton
said. “And it will be a gift-giving
achievement for generations to
come.” .
Clinton used the opportunity to
press his top domestic priorities: set
ting aside the budget surpluses until
Congress enacts long-term fixes to
the Social Security system, resisting
using the money for tax cuts and
making investments in education that
can be paid for without dipping into
the surpluses.
“I am well aware that it is a popu
lar thing, particularly right here, just
four weeks and change before an
Election Day, to serve up a tax cut-to
say, well, we’ve got a surplus, we’re
going to give you some of your
money back,” the president said.
«—
Tonight at
midnight, America...
launches an era of
balanced budgets
and surpluses.”
President Clinton
He said people would rather pre
serve the surplus until Social
Security funding is straightened out.
i minx most Americans would
like to see the ink change from red to
black and then just dry a little before
we put it at risk,” he said.
Republicans retorted that their
plan for an $80 billion tax cut over
five years would chew up only 10
percent of the projected budget sur
pluses.
“The president is threatening to
punish husbands and wives, farmers
and ranchers, small businesses and
senior citizens by denying them tax
relief now,” said Rep. John Boehner,
R-Ohio, chairman of the House
Republic Conference.
The $70 billion surplus
announced Wednesday is an estimate; ^
the final figure will be available in
mid-October.
Despite the surplus, the nation
still has a $5.4 trillion debt as a result
of years of deficit spending.
Honor of Yom Kippur
empties Israeli streets
JERUSALEM (AP) - Prayerful
chants echoed off the yellow-pink
stones of the Western Wall and the
candlelit walls of countless syna
gogues Wednesday as Israel marked
Judaism’s holiest day.
Jews around the world mark Yom
Kippur, the Day of Atonement, by
praying: and fasting, soul-searching,
repenting and seeking God’s forgive
ness. The holiday began at sundown
Tuesday and lasted until sundown
Wednesday.
“It’s the time to confess your sins
right out loud,” said 69-year-old
Jerusalem tour guide Shmaryahi
Yahav. “You try to improve your com
mumcauon wim uod ana witn otner
people, too.”
Even on a day of introspection,
real-world tensions intruded. ‘ '
•- Military security was tight, the
Palestinian lands were sealed of£ and
little progress was seen in just-fin
ished peace talks in the United States.
In Israel proper, the holiday pre
sented a rare spectacle: that of a frenet
ic country simply shutting down.
Streets emptied as people hurried
home for a final pre-fast meal. For 24
hours, shops and businesses were
shuttered, buses and trains stopped
running, and virtually no one drove.
There were no international or
domestic flights. Seaports were
closed. Border crossings were shut.
News broadcasts ceased
At the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s
walled Old City, Judaism’s holiest site,
tens of thousands of Jews gathered for
prayers, swaying and chanting before
the expanse of yellow stone. Prayers
continued late into the night Tuesday.
The day marks something ofa
truce in skirmishes between religious
and secular Israelis. Even though most
Israelis describe themselves as secu
lar; nearly all go to synagogue on Yom
Kippur and most also fast
synagogues are so crowaea mat
many require reservations, but by tra
dition, no worshipper is turned away.
The army, which also observes the
holiday fast, insists religious obser
vances don’t compromise prepared
ness - a pledge drat carries a special
meaning this year, the 25th anniver
sary of the Yom Kippur war.
Israel was caugbt badly off guard
when Arab neighbors attacked on Oct
6,1973, when the holy day fell that
year. Almost 2,700 Israeli soldiers
were slain in the 254-week conflict,
shattering the country’s confidence
about its military prowess.
As it normally does during Jewish
holidays, Israel imposed a blanket clo
sure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
refusing entry to all Palestinians.
Soldiers manned roadblocks and
police checked cars going into the Old
City.
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Demands on IRA, cause impasse
Sinn Fein leader says it won’t affect new Assembly
blaurpuul, England fAF) -
Gerry Adams, leader of the IRA-allied
Sinn Fein party, insisted Wednesday
that demands for the Irish Republican
Army to start surrendering weapons
should not hold up the formation of
Northern Ireland’s new administra
tion.
“The time frame should not be
allowed to slip,” Adams told reporters
after a 40-minute meeting with Prime
Minister Tony Blair during the govern
ing Labor Party’s annual conference.
“People should nptbe allowed to hard
ball each other or go down to the wire
on this.”
Blair also was meeting members
of Northern Ireland’s main Protestant
and Catholic parties Wednesday in a
bid to break the impasse over IRA
weapons.
Adams wants two posts for Sinn
Fein in a new multiparty administra
tion, which will be drawn from the
108-member power-sharing Assembly
set up under Northern Ireland’s his
toric peace agreement.
April’s agreement specifies that
i—— .
the administration must hold a summit
meeting with the Irish government by
Oct 31.
David Trimble, head of the
Protestant Ulster Unionist Party and
leader of the administration, is insist
ing the IRA start decommissioning to
show the sincerity of its 14-month-old
truce before Sinn Fein could assume
any such posts.
Trimble says he and his Catholic
deputy could meet with the Irish gov
ernment, while Adams is insisting the
entire administration must be appoint
ed in time to participate in the meeting.
The peace accord calls fpr the IRA
and the province’s outlawed pro
British paramilitary groups to disarm
under international supervision by
mid-2000, but set no deadline for the
process to start.
Underlining the huge change since
the Belfast peace agreement, Adams
passed through the security cordons
that surround the annual gathering of
Britain’s governing party - once used
primarily to guard against an IRA
assassination attempt on Cabinet min
«
People should not
be allowed to
hardball each other
or go down to the
wire on this ”
Gerry Adams
' Sinn Fein leader
isters. ?
Also Wednesday, police in the Irish
Republic arrested three more suspects
on suspicion of planning last month’s
car-bomb slaughter in the Northern
Ireland town of Omagh.
Since the Aug. 15 bombing, police
on both sides of the Irish border have
arrested 18 other people suspected of
involvement in &e attack that killed 29
people.
All suspects were eventually freed
without charge.
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