Bracing for a bruising budget battle
Jim Nussle gained early notoriety in Congress when, as a 31-year-old freshman, he appeared on the House floor wearing a paper bag over his head. He pulled the stunt to draw attention to a culture that he viewed as corrupt and "out of control." The display was designed to highlight the bad-check scandal that was then enveloping the majority Democrats. A dozen years later, the Democratic majority is history, and Nussle has grown into the consummate insider, serving his third year as chairman of the House Budget Committee. Except now, instead of a paper bag, Nussle might consider a Kevlar helmet.
As budget chair, Nussle has the task of trying to turn a budget nearly half a trillion dollars in the red into a package that will give President Bush a platform on which to run for re-election and help the GOP retain its slim margin of control in the House. His strategy: to freeze nonsecurity-related spending in an attempt to cut the deficit in half in four years.
Caught in the crossfire. Easier said than done. In attempting what some consider a nearly impossible job, Nussle is caught in the political crossfire of several warring camps who see the federal budget as a chance to write pieces of campaign literature for the election this fall. "The first person who proposes anything is like the first person out of the foxhole. They are going to get shot at," says Nussle. Still, he says, "I love this because it's a challenge, and I love a challenge. I get to set out a vision."
But it is by necessity a vision radically altered since Nussle first assumed the budget chair in 2001. Back then, the possibilities seemed limitless. The federal budget was running record surpluses, and a new Republican president seemed to be the crowning piece to the brightest of futures. Forecasts of $5.6 trillion in surpluses over the next decade allowed the president to call for $1.6 trillion in tax cuts and to demand that they be made retroactive. Nussle had the authority to unilaterally add money anywhere he saw fit in the budget. But then, everything changed. In place of huge surpluses, the Congressional Budget Office is now estimating the deficits will be about $2.75 trillion over the next 10 years. "The thing that has surprised me the most is how quickly fortunes can change," Nussle says. "You can wake up one day and have a balanced budget, September 10, and then wake up the next day and have everything completely turned around."
Needless to say, Democrats have a different take on who and what are to blame for the whopping deficits and the recent economic slump. "When George Bush said during the 2000 campaign that he was against nation building, who knew he was talking about the United States?" asks Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, a former Clinton aide who is now a member of the Budget Committee.
House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi says it will be all-out war when Nussle's spending package reaches the floor. "The budget, in my view and in the view of Democrats, should be a statement of our national values," she says. "We will see these budgets as a contrast. The Democrats' budget will be a statement of our national values. The other will be a tribute to the special interests . . . .We will be there in full body armor, ready for battle."
advertisement
