Readers Report

ONLY SPENDING CUTS CAN REDUCE THE DEFICIT

Neither a constitutional amendment nor legislation can balance the budget ("Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em," Economics, Sept. 7). And if the President doesn't have line-item veto authority, neither can he. Only Congress can enact the spending cuts necessary for any rational deficit-reduction effort, and Congress, controlled by Democrats, has yet to meet an entitlement program it didn't like. If, by some freak occurrence, enough people realize before the election that government has screwed up enough programs, maybe the immense burden that the health care, job-training, environment, and welfare programs (and related taxes) Bill Clinton and a Democratic Congress would impose can be avoided.

Never mind, I'll just go ahead and liquidate my portfolio.

R. Brian Weeks

Arlington, Tex.