Experts Spot Red in Clinton Budget

The Congressional Budget Office said President Clinton’s budget would leave at least a $49-billion deficit in 2002, not the $17-billion surplus he claims. Though Republicans had long expected a finding in that range, they were expected to use the new number to criticize the $1.7-trillion spending plan for 1998 that Clinton unveiled a week ago. So far, the GOP has employed a strategy of praising Clinton’s package as an acceptable starting point for budget talks while simultaneously attacking it for claiming unrealistic savings. “This is not like some Republican saying, ‘Look, the Democrats are wrong,’ ” said House Budget Committee Chairman John R. Kasich (R-Ohio), whose panel received the report of the nonpartisan CBO.