Worried that George W. Bush and Al Gore will spend the projected budget surplus on new billion dollar spending programs or tax cuts? Don't be.

Congress is seeing to it that they'll never have the chance. Congress is currently considering the biggest increases in spending since the Republicans took control, adding billions more to the budget for new water projects, bridges, roads, and other pork barrel projects.

While Bush and Gore are debating what to do with the surplus, Congressional Democrats and Republicans alike are frantically spending it.

Tax breaks and new spending programs being considered would exceed, by at least $60 billion, the $600 billion spending limit that had been set for this year, according to the Senate Budget Committee.

Even if the leadership halves that number, as it seeks to do, that will still represent a 6.1 percent increase in general government spending (not entitlements). This would be, by far, the single largest spending increase since the Republicans wrested control of Congress.

This $30 billion in extra spending could ultimately result in a $300 billion reduction in surpluses over the next decade, according to the Budget Committee.

Even with projected budget surpluses, the national debt will still increase by $753 billion to $6.4 trillion by 2010, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

To the credit of Congressional Republican leaders, they have proposed setting aside 90% of next year's $268 billion projected surplus to help pay down the debt. That would leave only $27 billion for any new tax cuts or spending programs.

But current spending bills are already on track to exceed that number. House and Senate negotiators last week added billions to the Administration's request for transportation spending.

Aided by the Clinton Administration, Republicans and Democrats in Congress continue to ignore the caps that legislators set for government spending in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.

But even with the caps, the surpluses aren't guaranteed. Congress continues its spending spree despite the fact that tax revenues (and projected budget surpluses) are subject to shifts in the economy.

The Concord Coalition has proposed that Congress consider spending caps that rise only with inflation for FY 2001 and FY 2002. Congress should seriously consider this proposal.

Billion-dollar election year promises by Congress and the Presidential candidates may win votes, but come at the expense of the nation's future fiscal health.