John Block Reports from Washington

President Clinton has been making a big thing out ofthe bulging budget surplus. Vice President Gore has been trying to take credit for the surging economy. Members of Congress are talking about the windfall. It's like we just won the lottery. This is terrific. And after all of those years of budget deficits. But if indeed the federal government is going to have 4.2 trillion dollars more than needed to meet our obligation over the next 10 years, what should be done with the money?

That's the questions to be answered. Like kids in a candy shop, the politicians have all kinds of ideas. Vice president Gore wants a Medicare drug benefit plan costing more than 250 billion over 10 years. Republicans want to appear compassionate and have their own less expensive plan. In an attempt to seize the moment of high gas prices, the Vice president called for a 150 billion dollar program to promote energy efficiency. Both parties have pledged to not spend the money reserved for Social Security and Medicare.

The President talks about paying down the government debt by 2012. I'm looking at this cartoon -- a caricature of President Clinton really big in the middle. Bloated. Ready to explode. It's the budget surplus balooning. What do we do with it? It really isn't the government's money. We made the money -- you and 1the old fashioned way. We earned it. It comes down to the simple fact: we are sending too much of our money to Washington. Big government wants it. Big government will spend it if we send it.

Serious tax cuts are the healthiest prescription for a bloated federal government.