Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Tuesday
June 16, 1981
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By Jim Earle
“Sir, you may remember that you helped me change my
schedule so I could have Mondays and Fridays open at 10
a.m.; this conflicted with my club activities, and we changed it
again! Now I ve just learned that I must make one more
change ... sir? ... sir?’'
By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — In ordinary usage,
reconciliation means kiss-and-make-up. As
is is currently being used in Congress, it’s
more like spit-and-fight. Stage two in the
1981 battle of the budget, called reconcilia
tion, has important implications not just for
federal programs and the people who pay
for and benefit from them but also for the
future of Congress as an institution.
In the jargon of Capitol Hill, reconcilia
tion refers to the process by which the com
mittees of the House and Senate are forced
to trim programs under their jurisdicition
to meet the budget targets requested by
President Reagan and approved by Con
gress this spring. Earlier, Congress agreed
to cut $35 billion from the 1982 budget and
told each committee how much of the re
duction it would have to absorb. Now, the
committees are coming back — reluctantly
and in some cases recalcitrantly — to show
what they have done and to see if their
handiwork is ratified or rejected by their
colleagues.
The process now being tested on Capitol
Hill is almost unprecedented. Allen Schick,
a long-time student of Congress and the
budget, last month wrote in an essay for the
American Enterprise Institute that he
knew “of no measure in the long history of
Congress within the scope of this year’s
reconciliation (bill). The process is truly un
precedented in the range of legislative
issues it encompasses ... If reconciliation
takes root on Capitol Hill, Congress might
become a very different institution than it
has been for many years.
Among the changes ticked off by Schick
were these:
— a shift from distributive politics,
where Congress pushes up spending as it
“seeks to satisfy certain interests without
disadvantaging others,” to redistributive
politics, “where Congress cannot avoid an
explicit consideration of who shall lose by
virtue of reconciliation.”
— The “fiscalization” of legislative de
bate, in which policy considerations are
subordinated to concerns about costs as
members “are repeatedly bombarded with
information on the budgetary consequ
ences of their actions. ”
— The compression of legislative activ
ity, with the reconciliation process short-
circuiting policy debates in legislative com
mittees and also preempting the detailed
Warped
New students face frustratioi
Just the other evening I was leisurely en
joying a dinner in the MSC cafeteria. No
sooner had I taken a bite into my jalapeno
cornbread when I was disturbed by the
tears and frustration of a young woman.
She was obviously an incoming freshman
because she toted the 1981-82 catalog and a
stack of brochures filled with information
about Aggieland.
Now I’m not one to eavesdrop, but being
seated so closely I couldn’t help but hear
the conversation with her parents.
The poor girl was insisting she get to the
bookstore to reserve her textbooks for the
fall. Her insistence reminded me of grade
school and how disappointed I was when I
didn’t get my brand new school supplies in
time for the first day of school.
Her father kept telling her it wasn’t
necessary to reserve her books now. Back
and forth they argued, her voice becoming
noticeably shrill, his voice quiet, but ob
viously restraining his temper.
They continued until she stormed out the
cafeteria with a tear-stained face. My heart
went out to this bewildered couple and
their frustrated daughter.
I wanted to say, “Excuse me, but your
daughter is going to be a freshman. Right?
Don’t let her angry words upset you. She’s
just affected by the ‘Helpl-I’m-terrified-
Staff Notebook
by Kathy
O’Connell
about-going-to-college’ syndrome. ”
I also wanted to offer some advice to the
girl and tell her that she really didn’t have to
reserve her textbooks. In fact, even though
it may save time later, there’s no guarantee
that a professor won’t change his mind ab
out a particular text.
She’d be playing it safe to wait for the first
class day when her prof says exactly what
textbooks to buy. Besides, I’m inclined to
think the bookstore is just trying to secure
the freshmen s business.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a
brochure that would inform new students
about the ins and outs of avoiding frustra
tion.
How to miss long lines should be first on
the list. The best way to avoid this pi
is to make sure all your parkingtich
paid before trying to pre-register.
I heard of one girl (a freshman) wlti
accumulated over $200 in parkingij
tions. Anyone who does that desme
stand in line.
But then standing in lines maynotli
bad after all. For instance, while Ira!?
pay a fee, the girl in front ofmehadtop |
$2 charge for a stolen P.E. towel.Tit
behind me had to shuck out $10forfdi
ing an intramural basketball game.
And another guy wrote a check forS
being overpaid on his BEOG. Imagine
having to pay back Uncle Sam, win
should be helping you!
Also, it would be helpful if the fresli
know that when there’s several large
overhead an umbrella would cei
come in handy.
More importantly, the new arrivals!
to feel welcome. They need to knot
college life isn’t so scary afterall. 0nei!j
main reasons I came to Texas
because of the friendly, helpful
the students.
If we can do anything to welcomti
freshmen, it’s to give a sincere‘lb
and any other assistance they need.
P
Congress’ budget job
a shaky experiment
1 IOLD YOU
PENTAGON GUYS
LASER 'WEAPONS
WOULDN'T WORK.
scrutiny of agency operations by the
appropriations committees. “Because of
this compression,” Schick said, “reconcilia
tion risks becoming an overloaded pro
cess.”
— The concentration of legislative power
in the House and Senate budget commit
tees, which would use their control of the
reconciliation process to police the work of
every other committee.
— An enhancement of the influence of a
budget-cutting president, who is able to
use the reconciliation process to focus pub
lic attention and political pressure on Con
gress to meet his fiscal goals.
Those are not all the consequences, but
they are enough to make it clear why the
reconciliation process is bound to be con
troversial. Schick says — and Rep. Richard
Bolling (D-Mo.), the House sponsor of the
seven-year-old Congressional Budget Act,
agress — that the act never contemplated
what Bolling calls this kind of “straitjacket”
procedure.
Veteran members of the congressional
money committees are divided on its wis
dom. Rep. Sidney Yates (D-Ill.) says it “dis
torts congressional intent.” Rep. Lindy
Boggs (D-La.) argues that by denying the
lawmakers “maneuverability,” it defeats
the original purpose of the budget-reform
act, which was to “give Congress back the
power of the purse” that presidents had
gradually usurped by their actions.
But Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio) says that
it is only by adopting and enforcing its own
budget decisions that Congress can “hope
to gain parity” with the executive branch in
spending decisions. And Rep. Joseph J.
McDade (R-Pa.) says that while the lack of
latitude for correcting the spending deci
sions later in the session is “worrisome,
because we re legislators, not oracles,” the
forced comparison of high- and low-priority
programs is “certainly an exercise that we
have to go through.”
What all of them realize is that reconcilia
tion is a historic change in Congress’ way of
doing business — and a shaky experiment.
Privately, even some of Reagan’s own
budget-cutters express doubts that Con
gress will repeat this process another year.
But for now, as Ralph Regula says, “there is
not other game in town.” The stakes —
political, social and institutional — are im
possible to exaggerate.
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The
Economy's yard gets growth formula
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — There are times
when the current tax debate sounds some
thing like a lawn care manual.
President Reagan, as we know, says a
5-10-10 formula would make the economy
grow best. He recommends three tax cut
applications — 5 percent the first year and
10 percent the next two years.
While this is a switch from his earlier
endorsement of the 10-10-10 formula,
many congressional Democrats insist the
mixture still is too rich.
Both sides seem to agree it wouldn’t do
much good to fertilize with tax cuts as long
as the economy is overgrown with federal
programs. So the present plan is to spray
the economy with a powerful fundkiller.
The theory is that thinning out federal prog
rams will give more desirable private pro
jects room to take root and sprout.
Anyway, the conventional wisdom is that
fall is the best time to apply a tax cut —
particularly in an election year.
The experts say spring applications may
cause the economy to grow too rapidly,
allowing inflation to spread and weakening
the root structure.
They say an economy that is shot through
with inflation has less chance of surviving
longer summer periods of stock market
slumps and dollar shrinkage.
There likewise is a danger that interest
rates will spring up too high, preventing the
seeds of economic recovery from germi
nating.
But in the fall, the right tax cut formula
will promote healthy growth and put the
economy in better shape to withstand such
winter shocks as the Christmas shopping
season.
and practically starving the lower end
Democrats contend the alternative!*
mulas they have proposed would be®]
conducive to level growth.
If there were a greening of take-M
pay, that would be a pretty goodindifl
Lwiitiil i M/onlrl Inp minnKH
the formula would benefit the tmuwfj
of the economy.
But if a thick mat of inflation dioleJI
income gains and prevented them tj
maturing into savings accounts, that®
be evidence the complaints abouttheat
nistration formula were well taken.
The warnings we hear most often are that
the 10-10-10 and 5-10-10 mixtures would
mainly enrich the upper end of the eco
nomy, leaving barren spots in the middle
I personally feel more experiment*
should be done before Congress ant
administration finally settle on a taxc»l>
inula. I would like to see variousfom
tested on small patches of taxpayers^
being applied to the economy as a®
By Scott McCullar
The Battalion
L S P S 045 :I6()
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