WASHINGTON — The Concord Coalition has placed an advertisement in this
Sunday’s (Jan. 25) New York Times urging President Clinton and members of
Congress to use restraint when considering what to do with any projected
budget surpluses.
The advertisement is signed by Concord Co-Chairs and former Senators
Warren
Rudman (R-N.H.) and Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), and Concord President Peter
Peterson,
former Secretary of Commerce.
WASHINGTON — The Concord Coalition has placed an advertisement in this
Sunday’s (Jan. 25) New York Times urging President Clinton and members of
Congress to use restraint when considering what to do with any projected
budget surpluses.
The advertisement is signed by Concord Co-Chairs and former Senators
Warren
Rudman (R-N.H.) and Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), and Concord President Peter
Peterson,
former Secretary of Commerce.
With the recent forecast of short-term budget surpluses, political leaders
have offered various tax cut and spending proposals in recent weeks.
"We urge you to resist these fiscal temptations," the advertisement says.
"Do not undermine the progress on the deficit we’ve already made. And do
not forget that this progress represents only the first small step toward
confronting the vast fiscal threat looming over America’s future."
The advertisement points out that the projected surpluses exist only
because the official unified budget figures include Social Security’s
current trust fund surplus. In fact, if the Social Security surplus were
excluded from the calculations, "this year’s deficit rises by $100
billion."
"It’s time to stop sending false signals," the advertisement continues.
"It’s time to acknowledge that cutting taxes today makes no sense if that
cut will only necessitate raising taxes even more tomorrow…it’s time to
focus on long-term entitlement reform, including both Social Security and
Medicare, whose spending growth will otherwise overwhelm everything else
we
do."
Click here
to read the full text of the advertisement.
