Nation: Where the Ax Will Fall

White House and Congress battle over how to cut spending

ABANDON HOPE, ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE. That legendary inscription over the gate of hell, as described in Dante's Inferno, appeared last week on a sign that New York Democrat Stephen Solarz posted at a meeting of the House Budget Committee. His point was to warn his fellow liberals that they have no chance of stopping a congressional drive to balance next year's budget, in part by cuts in Government social spending which the liberals find downright hellish.

Congress does seem determined to reduce spending, and in fact the legislators are talking of...