This morning I had the opportunity to participate–along with a number of other bloggers–in a meeting with OMB Director Jim Nussle. Nussle took advantage of the timing of this session to call attention to the recent release of economic data showing the third consecutive year of decline in the federal deficit, and the continued surge of tax receipts. Nussle reiterated the support of the administration for disclosure of earmarks and for transparency in federal spending. He pointed to earmarks.omb.gov as an important resource for tracking pork-barrel projects in Congressional legislation. He also said that the website called for in the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act will come online in January. Together these two resources will ensure taxpayers far better access to information about federal spending than ever before. Nussle also addressed a range of issues brought up by the bloggers. He discussed SCHIP, and expressed his hope that Congressional Democrats would reconsider their refusal to negotiate. He said that if the debate is about children’s health, Democrats should be willing to talk. Only if it’s actually about having a political issue would it make sense to grandstand. He expressed an interest in the Taxpayer Choice Act recently released by several House conservatives. He said that he and the administration are strongly supportive of tax reform, and are eager to learn more about the proposal. He defended the Bush team on the charge of spending too much, saying that when Bush took office there was a security deficit which needed to be addressed. After 9/11, there was a new focus on both the war on terror and on homeland security–which required dramatic new spending. Nussle contends that in non-security accounts, spending under President Bush has been ‘historically low.’ And when I asked about the likely endgame for this year’s appropriations cycle, Nussle sounded prepared. It’s clear that the White House and Congress are headed for a showdown over spending, which will involve both SCHIP and the 12 annual appropriations bills. Democrats argue that if the president believes we need to spend $200 billion on the Iraq war, he ought to agree to an additional $23 billion on domestic priorities. Nussle pointed out that if the White House suggests $23 billion in spending cuts, the Democratic Congress opposes it as a huge spending reduction. When Democrats want a spending increase however, they argue that it’s ‘just’ $23 billion. Nussle pointed out that a $23 billion increase this year gets built into the baseline for next year, meaning that the increase favored by the Democrats really amounts to $205 billion in new spending over 5 years. That’s something the White House will fight hard, particularly at a time when Congress is refusing to take up legislation to fund America’s troops in harm’s way. Here’s a video excerpt of the session, put together by Rob Bluey of the Heritage Foundation.
Fore more on Nussle’s comments about SCHIP and entitlement spending, read Phil Klein’s post.
