The Week

Congress has voted to increase sugar price supports, to raise sugar prices, to raise sugar producers’ income, to lower consumers’ income, to raise consumers’ blood pressure, to lower sugar consumption, to lower sugar producers’ income, to increase sugar price supports, to be continued.

The feeling is growing in the Reagan Administration that the Office of Management and Budget has made the deficit, instead of government spending, the political issue. This has shifted Congress’s attention from cutting the budget to balancing the budget. There is a big difference. The budget can be balanced by raising taxes or by using inflation to push taxpayers into higher tax brackets. Administration insiders say that this was a strategic political mistake by OMB, which let Congress off the hook and put the Administration on it. Instead of having Congress on the defensive for not controlling spending, the Administration is on the defensive for having cut taxes.

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Congress has voted to increase sugar price supports, to raise sugar prices, to raise sugar producers’ income, to lower consumers’ income, to raise consumers’ blood pressure, to lower sugar consumption, to lower sugar producers’ income, to increase sugar price supports, to be continued.

The feeling is growing in the Reagan Administration that the Office of Management and Budget has made the deficit, instead of government spending, the political issue. This has shifted Congress’s attention from cutting the budget to balancing the budget. There is a big difference. The budget can be balanced by raising taxes or by using inflation to push taxpayers into higher tax brackets. Administration insiders say that this was a strategic political mistake by OMB, which let Congress off the hook and put the Administration on it. Instead of having Congress on the defensive for not controlling spending, the Administration is on the defensive for having cut taxes.