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Thursday, January 30, 2003
ackeipederal deficit hits $ 199 billion
3 seam
mg more aggress
vhether intrusion
By Alan Fram
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
his year’s federal deficit
wil soar to $199 billion even
without President Bush’s new
m progress.
ultimate goal islojL . Mm
is or violations P cut P an or war a S ainst Ira( T
the fly,’’ said! Congressional
Budget
er Shambhu Upad* lcc vveunesuay in a
L Buffalo computJ lort that cast doubt on
afessor. “There arl inces bar balancing the budg-
it try to do this M m y time soon -
the problem is it J The nonpartisan budget
any false alarms.”M c e projected that without
ing false alarms Mon on any tax or spending
ible minimum iskM‘ at ‘ ves — wh ich no one con-
|y difficult to sider-s realistic — small annual
ice Schneier, a Surpluses would not return until
and cryptography®' 7 - a Y ear Inter than the office
thor of the Jwdicted in August.
’Secrets & Lies,®I n perhaps the starkest
in a Networked depiction of how rapidly the
ie systems live gournment’s long-range out-
alarms,” said S, f 0(A has eroded, the budget
i software. “YouseM lce sa ' d Wednesday that it
in facial reco2r.M' s ' oned a cunui ' a tive $20
catch terrorists i^’dion surplus over the decade
faces in airport® be g an last y ear - I n Ma Y
ils failed miserabh l 01 - the offi ce projected an
I by doctoral sMprecedented $5.6 trillion
ar Chinchani andlMT 1118 for that same period.
the Air Force Res®
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ya began examina_
:ther monitoring siij Smugglers hold illegal
immi 9 rants Hostage
ore effective andM H 0 ENIX (AP) - More than 60 illegal immi-
irity monitoring, g^tswere held hostage in a Phoenix house
|ihile smugglers demanded payment from
it families, police said Wednesday.
'olice said a man who was allegedly being
Id at the house escaped Tuesday afternoon
d called 911. Investigators found four
eged smugglers in the home, Detective
The bleak forecast further
inflamed this year’s budget fight
between Bush and congression
al Democrats, who accuse each
other of speeding the downward
spiral of the government’s
books. Bush wants more tax
cuts and spending restraint,
while Democrats prefer higher
spending and smaller tax reduc
tions.
“The elephant in the room he
didn’t mention last night was
the deficit,” said Rep. John
Spratt of South Carolina, top
Democrat on the House Budget
Committee, referring to the
president’s State of the Union
address. “The question he
avoided was: How would he do
all the things he’s talking about
in the State of the Union and
have any kind of bottom line left
in the budget?”
In his speech. Bush renewed
his call for a $674 billion, 10-
year tax-cutting plan to fortify
the economy, and proposed
spending initiatives including a
$400 billion, 10-year expansion
of Medicare. He said the best
way to control deficits is to fos-
Deeper in the red
President Bush’s proposed budget
deficit is $54 billion larger than he
previously proposed five months
ago. Some private economists
project that a war with Iraq could
push the deficit to a record $300
billion. The worst deficit was $290
billion in 1992, the year after the
last war with Iraq.
Annual budget
$600 billion
NOTE: 2002 figure is actual, all others
are projected.
SOURCE: Congressional Budget Office AP
ter economic growth and limit
federal spending.
Republicans echoed his argu
ment Wednesday. They added
that for now, deficits would have
to play second fiddle to initia
tives aimed at invigorating the
economy and confronting ter
rorism.
“If the only index you look
at is cash flow, you may be
missing the point” that there are
other important priorities, said
House Budget Committee
Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa.
The budget office’s projected
$199 billion deficit for this year
compared with a $145 billion
shortfall it projected in August.
Its forecast five months ago for
a $111 billion deficit in 2004
also got worse, rising to $145
billion in the new report.
Since CBO’s projections
include none of the tax and
spending initiatives that law
makers are likely to tackle, they
are meant as a benchmark for
measuring future action.
As a result, actual shortfalls
are almost certain to be worse.
Private economists have said
this year’s deficit will likely
exceed $300 billion — surpass
ing the record $290 billion
shortfall of 1992, when Bush’s
father was president.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Tony Morales said. One was booked on sus
picion of sexually assaulting a woman held at
the house. The rest of the alleged smugglers
and immigrants were turned over to immi
gration authorities.
Veterans Affairs: service
will ail if U.S. heads to Iraq
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Veterans Affairs
health care system doesn't have enough
money, has trouble recruiting doctors and
nurses, makes some veterans wait months
for an appointment and cuts others off oth
ers from enrolling. A war with Iraq could
only make the problems worse, lawmakers
and officials said Wednesday.
Robert Roswell, the Department's under
secretary for health, said that while, overall,
the VA health care system remains one of the
most effective in the nation, the growth of
demands on its services is "unsustainable."
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3 rd ANNUAL TEXAS A&M
ASSESSMENT CONFERENCE
Measuring For Success
February 10-11
Keynote Speakers: James A. Anderson, North
Carolina State Univ. and George D. Kuh, National
Survey of Student Engagement
For information and registration: call 845-0532 or visit
WWW.TAMU.EDU/ODE/ASSESSMENT
Deadline for early registration: January 31,2003
Dote parents BLEED HAROON
If they bleed Maroon, be sure to nominate
them for Texas A&M's Parents' of the Year
for 2003-2004!
For an application and information regarding
the Parents' of the Year selection process
email Jesse-LaRou Walsh @
jwalsh8neo.tamu.edu
Hurry!!! Applications are due by Monday,
February 17 rh
Show this Saturday, Feb. 1 st , 9:00 p.m.
at Rudder Auditorium for
slip
improv comedy
Tickets now on sale at Rudder Box Office for $ 5
Come fully dressed in a ninja, tosa, fairy
or pirate costume and get in for $ 3i!
EVEN-mAVF?
Become
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ipte
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SENIORS
Time is running out!
Don't miss your opportunity to be in
the 2003 Aggieland yearbook.
Get your picture taken at
AR Photography
by Feb. 13
404 University Dr. E„ Ste. F
(in shopping center across from Albertson's)
Questions?
Call 693-8183 or 845-2682
Aggieland 2003