In the first two-and-a-half weeks of this year, President Clinton proposed new programs totaling no less than $22.4 billion in additional federal spending each year, according to Investor's Business Daily. That involved 17 programs announced between January 5 and 19.

• The $22.4 billion would eat up more than one-fifth of the projected non-Social Security budget surplus over the next 10 years.

• To put it another way, it represents 23 percent of what Clinton and Vice President Gore have called GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush's "risky tax cut scheme."

• On Tuesday alone, Clinton asked for $175 million to fight AIDS, $280 million for new gun control measures, $1 billion for the National Institutes of Health and $2.8 billion for the first year of a 10-year plan centering on long-term care.

• The following day he asked for between $11 billion and $13.8 billion a year for health insurance for the uninsured.

Political observers point out that the string of Clinton requests for more funds illustrates the dangers of leaving surpluses in Washington rather than giving them back to taxpayers.

Source: Editorial, "Search: Clinton AND Spending," Investor's Business Daily, January 20, 2000.