Press Briefing by Director of OMB Rob Portman on the Budget

Business Wire, July 11, 2007

DIRECTOR PORTMAN: The numbers are 6.9 percent overall, 10.5 percent in defense, 0.8 percent based on the 2007 CR -- I can give you a chart on that that was just given to me -- so there's no reduction in domestic spending, there's an increase -- it's below inflation, but there is an increase. And then within that we prioritize -- again, more money for research, for instance, more money for energy, more money for Title I. And in other areas we think we can eliminate some programs that aren't working and see some reductions in other areas. So it's not that stark a contrast.

If you look at the big picture, as a fiscal conservative, I guess it depends how much you think we need to increase our DOD spending, because that's where most of the money is, most of the 6.9 percent.

Q But aren't they saying you're trying to sort of have your cake and eat it, too, by not actually making cuts to domestic spending, or keep the overall number down?

DIRECTOR PORTMAN: We are not trying to have it both ways this year. And that's the point of contention you talked about earlier, in the sense that the President has set a level, he thinks it's fair. He has said we should not rob our national security, we shouldn't raid that account, and that he is prepared to veto legislation that comes to his desk on the domestic side that exceeds that top line.

Q On that point, he didn't veto a bill that had $17 billion more than he wanted. So why should people believe that he would veto $5 billion more?

DIRECTOR PORTMAN: Well, he did veto that bill once. And when he vetoed that bill, he said that it was excessive spending. He also said -- he acknowledged that half of that spending was Defense and VA, over half of it was security, because of the homeland security adds, and he wanted to work with Congress on that. And in the end, $4.2 billion was removed from the bill as a result of the veto.

And as you know, he was very concerned about the restrictions on the Commander-in-Chief and on the commanders in the field. And that language, which was particularly problematic for the President, was removed. He also, of course, vetoed the bill because of the withdrawal language, which was also removed. So it was a give-and-take with Congress, but in the end, we were able to remove over $4 billion in spending. And more than half of the spending in the end was security based that was added to the supplemental request.

Q So is the $22 billion sort of a give-and-take number, too, that you're willing to --

DIRECTOR PORTMAN: No, I think what the President has said is that he believes that he has provided adequate increases to meet the national priorities with a 6.9 percent increase in spending, and that with the exception of the Homeland Security-VA bill, where we think we can productively spend the additional resources that Congress has requested, that the President will veto legislation that exceeds that adequate $933 billion top line -- which is an adequate cushion, given the increase that Keith just talked about.