CLINTON ISSUES GAME PLAN TO SLASH DEFICIT.(MAIN)

Byline: ANN DEVROY AND ERIC PIANIN Washington Post

WASHINGTON President Clinton on Tuesday laid out a route to a balanced federal budget that takes longer than the Republican seven-year plan, but follows the Republican direction in dramatically scaling back much of what government does.

Clinton described the broad outline of his plan in a five-minute address to the nation that amounted to a reversal of his budget submitted in February. In that plan, he outlined spending that would have increased the deficit into the next century, not decreased it.

In outlining his priorities, Clinton said: ``My plan will cut the deficit year after year. It will balance the budget, without hurting our future.'' He listed as his first priority preserving education spending, and said he wanted to control Medicare costs and target tax cuts to the middle class rather than to the wealthy. And he argued a longer period was needed to balance the budget to protect the economy and shield the needy from too swift a series of cuts.

The President's new budget plan would reach balance by 2005, while Republicans' would reach it three years earlier, and it would leave some of the biggest cuts …