European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 14, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes Tom Wicker line item veto no Panacea for budget deficit the Only weapon a president needs to reduce the Federal deficit George Bush proclaims is the line item veto. Give in la the Man in the White House and watch the spending go  if he really believes that and if he s elected president the deficit May be with us forever. A line item veto would permit the president to veto a single item in a congressional appropriation say a Federal building or a Harbor improvement or a research Grant without having to kill All the rest of the appropriation. Bush makes this sound like a wonder weapon to gel that a Cicil Down. The Way to do it is not to raise taxes but to give the president a Linc Ilem  in t that what 43 governors have to control spend ing bringing in the governors compounds a fraud. Bush would have us believe thai he could reduce the Federal deficit if he just had that line item Vela because 43 state governors already arc reducing their deficits by thai Means. It s not so. Douglas Holtz Eakin of the Columbia Universy economics depart ment has made a study of state budgets in the years since 1960, and on feb. Id in an article for inc new York times he reported with few exceptions simply granting the governor a line item veto has Little or no effect on spending Over the Long term. Over Lime in the hands of republicans and democrats alike the line item veto fails to Cut  Bush Mav not know that because his Mentor in voodoo economics former California gov. Reagan likes to boast about the Pood old Days in Sacramento when he wielded inc weapon Bush says a president needs. But even had the line hem Volo proved itself in the states a govern ment Veteran like Bush must know that if he s lec cd he s nol going to have in. Con Gress won t just hand that kind of Power to any president not even one As popular As . Rosenthal Ronald Reagan used to be. Thai s nut because a line item veto would be a powerful weapon against the deficit it s because it would be a Power Ful weapon Agail Congress. By vetoing or threatening to veto certain items dear to certain members a president might exponent inlay increase his Powers of per suasion on Capitol Hill. As for inc deficit however neither Bush nor any other president could do much about it with a line item veto. Even if he Cut All inc pork barrel items he could find s5 million Here Sid million there he would in the end remove perhaps a few Hundred million dollars from the spending total. In these Republican years however inc deficit is measured in by idiom and tots of them. But what Bush fans May ask about All the really big spending a president could Cut if Only he had a line item veto Well a lot of big spend ing can t be Cut at All interest on the debt for one Good exam ple or the Cost of entitlement programs. Most Oiher big items in the by decl arc there for practical purposes or for sound political reasons to which a president is no More immune than is Congress. Fed eral spending despite the claims of Rea Gan and Bush. Is not a Mere Hodgepodge of waste fraud mismanagement and pork. Mom appropriations answer some real need or some real cause supported by enough americans to cause Congress and the president to approve. When boy wonder David Stockman was the budget director he tried to Leach Reagan something about Federal spending and the deficit. "1 in vented a multiple Choice budget qui he relates in his Book the Triumph of  the quiz gave the president on each of so groups of budget items., three spend ing Cul choices ranging from a Nick to a heavy  with each target group. Stockman provided an explanation of the Impact and inc polities of inc possible cuts for nuance that to whack $4 billion out of cosi of livid to increases meant taking is 163 a year out of the pockets of 36 million social Security recipients and Riveral million More military and civil Ian  thus handed whal amounted to the line item veto with which he and Bush claimed they could reduce the deficit Reagan to Stockman s dismay rarely those to make a  even in a fiscal War game he could t make he hard Politico choices required if inc deficit were to be reduced by spending Culi. After his Nicks the five year deficit remained at a staggering s boo billion could Bush do belter not with the line item veto and if he does t know that All his experience has taught him nothing. A it Tom questions on soviet withdrawal go unanswered in the 1970s, when the United states was facing military disaster in Vietnam the soviet Union stepped in to help inc americans Suva face and Salvage As much political capital As possible. First. Moscow worked Oul an International agreement permitting american troops to withdraw Over As Many months As Washington thought Nec Essary without any verification. Then the Kremlin agreed that the South vietnamese government the battered american ally could remain in Power in a strongly fortified Saigon Wilh full inter National recognition. In its desire to help Washington. Moscow also agreed Hal the americans could guarantee the South vietnamese regime continued economic Aid. Thousands of american trained Cia agents remained in the country after inc troop withdrawal. And the soviet Union informed the Viet Cong thai no More Sovil military Aid would be Scal unless the americans added someday to inc huge stockpile inc . Was leaving Saigon. Naturally the Viet Cong did no like All this and Felt in deserved to take Over Power in Saigon As the Reward for defeating the United Stales and the South vietnamese. But Moscow eager for agreements with Washington on Oiher matters overrode the Viet Cong entirely the Only Comfort in gave its allies was to assure them that one Day the Viet Cong would indeed Triumph so go Loil and Good Luck. A fantasy but something like it is being played Oul in Afghanistan in very real life. The russians faced with military defeat have wisely agreed to pull Oul. They Are doing in pretty much on their own terms designed 10 keep the afghan communists in Kabul in Power As Long As possible. The Kabul govern Mich will probably be Defeated one Day. But before that a i u lot More afghan blood will have to be spilled to give the resistance the fruit of Victory in has already earned a Chance to form a new government. Americans do not seem to care a great Deal. The major reason probably is thai the withdrawal of soviet forces is so Welcome and desirable. In overshadows the fact Hal it will Lake place under conditions of Sovil choosing Hal can Celend the War not end it. And americans know in arc Are powerful groups in inc afghan resistance Hal arc totally repugnant to hem fundamentalist i Nacim who keep women in do purdah und Are eager to establish a Khomeini Type government. But afghan specialists believe that most afghans Are not fundamentalist and thai a traditional islamic government would emerge As the Choice of the people and most of the re Sis Ance. The longer the fight ing goes on the deeper the scene of bran Al the More Llic likelihood of a turn inward Iran and the emergence of an afghan Khomeini. A Senate Resolution demanding a solution accept Able to the resistance was approved by 70 senators. Some were conservative some were among the sen ate s Mosi Liberal members. But in news stories columns and editorials. Senate attempt to examine and question the conditions of soviet withdrawal under the Mill secret Geneva agreements Are constancy referred to As coming just from conservatives and hard liners. This makes questioning the agreements seem just a quirk of the right and dim mishes its i port act. The russians would simply do what americans had to do in Vietnam get Oul by getting out. But a formal withdrawal agreement is to be signed so the Sammil meeting need t be bothered Wilh Afghani Stan. President Reagan still owes the valiant afghan resistance fighters he loves to Praise and the Ameri can Public specific answers to specific questions does the agreement ensure the removal of thou Sands of Kab agents. Soviet and afghan How will the thousands of soviet specialists embedded in the afghan government gel out Loo who will run inc huge air bases and intelligence centers Buill by the russians arc Moscow and Kabul turning the Northern pan of Afghanistan into a communist bastion from which to fight politically and militarily i Kabul is lost to much of a military stockpile is the soviet Union leaving for Kabul whal economic resources will continue to flow to the afghan communists will the thousands of afghan children now in the soviet Union be allowed to return Home when precisely whal Are american plans to help the afghan resistance win the one political goal for which they have been fighting for 10 Are the establish ment of a non communist Gou Nim no or Are we just going to wish them Well the opinions firn we in the co Wnm and cartoon on toll mtg represent in test of the authors and ire inn Way Iti be conic Trmal u representing the i Cwm of the stars and stripes or the United slate Goiania Cut