YES, THE DEFICIT WAS CUT

LAST YEAR BILL CLINTON, liberally dispensing vetoes, triumphed in the battle of the budget — yet the Gingrich revolutionaries just may be winning the war.

America’s best-kept political secret is that, projecting from federal revenue and spending in the first seven months of fiscal 1996, the deficit will tumble to just about $ 130 billion by the end of the year. This is 20 to 25 percent less than last year and the lowest annual deficit since 1982. For the first time in nearly 20 years, the deficit is on track to fall below 2 percent of national output.