consider the following in light of the previous conversation.

jb....


White House Says Budget Surplus Beats Forecast
Federal Debt Could Be Paid Off by 2010

By JESSE J. HOLLAND
.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (Dec. 28) - President Clinton on Thursday projected that the
country will enjoy a $1.9 trillion budget surplus over the next decade. He
said the increase in the expected surplus means the United States government
will be debt-free by 2010.

The fiscal 2001 budget surplus was projected at $256 billion, White House
officials said. The fiscal 2000 surplus was $237 billion, officials said,
which capped four straight years of budget surpluses.

This was the first time the country has had four straight budget surpluses
since 1930, officials said.

The increase in the surplus, which does not include the Social Security or
the Medicare surplus, marks the ninth consecutive year in which the
government's bottom line has improved, a first.

In June, Clinton projected a 10-year surplus of $1.87 trillion. The new
figure was $300 million higher.

''These are conservative numbers,'' Clinton said at a White House news
conference.

The booming economy also will allow the country to pay off the debt by 2009
if it dedicates its entire budget surplus to debt reduction, White House
budget director Jack Lew said. ''America is on track to becoming debt-free,''
Lew said.

Over that same 10-year period, the surplus for Social Security is expected to
grow to $2.5 trillion while the Medicare surplus is expected to grow to $532
billion, Lew said.

President-elect Bush argued during his campaign that his proposal for more
than $1.3 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years can be paid for by budget
surpluses without eroding Social Security's trust funds. But he has also been
cautioning of a potential downturn in the economy - a forecast that the White
House deplored as without basis and likely to be damaging to the economy.

 AP-NY-12-28-00 1306EST

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press.