WASHINGTON – The Clinton Administration will unveil its fiscal year 2000 budget today.  Following are the remarks of Thomas A. Schatz, President of Citizens Against Government Waste, reacting to the President’s proposed $1.7 trillion budget.

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“It’s strangely appropriate that President Clinton has chosen February 1st, the day before Groundhog Day, to release his proposed budget for the next fiscal year.  According to tradition, if a groundhog comes out of its hole and sees its shadow, there is still a long winter ahead.  Similarly, when Americans look out at the fiscal landscape and see the President’s budget, they see a long shadow of continuing overspending and debt. America is still trapped in a $5.5 trillion hole of debt, masked only by accounting tricks and the so-called Social Security trust fund.”

“The President is hogging the federal budget with his pet projects:  $500 billion on universal savings accounts for retirement; $700 billion on Medicare; and $2.8 trillion on Social Security, including $700 billion he proposes the government invest in the stock market.  The proposed budget would fund 100,000 new teachers; at least 30,000 more police; Americorps; and a Patient’s Bill of Rights.  His $6.8 trillion “surplus” counts $2.3 trillion twice in a bizarre attempt to save Social Security by using that program’s own money.  It is up to Congress to shove President Clinton’s budget into a deep, dark hole and ensure that the fierce winter of debt ends in a quick thaw.”