"Very pleased" is how U.S. Rep. Mac Collins described his first stint as a member of the House Budget Committee.

Collins said this week he is hopeful that the committee's budget, marked up last week, will pass the Congress almost intact, and will be signed by the president with few changes.

"We've got a long way to go. We're on the 10 yard line and we're going to need a lot of offense to get 90 more yards behind us," he said.

But, he added, "We just followed the advice of the people back home. They told us to hold the line on spending, pay down the public debt, and that's what we did."

Collins, whose 3rd District Georgia seat includes Fayette County, said he is particularly proud that the proposed budget would end the long-established practice of using Social Security and other trust funds to balance expenditures in the general fund.

Even with that change, he said, experts predict that revenues will "just break even," he said.

According to Collins, the proposed FY2000 budget also would:

Pay down some $125 billion of public debt in FY 2000.

Maintain the spending caps adopted as part of the Balanced Budget Agreement of 1997.

Call for $800 billion in tax simplification over the next decade.

Increase defense spending authority to $290 billion in FY 2000.

Increase primary, secondary, and vocational education by $2.3 billion in FY 2000.

The budget report also includes a Collins proposal that would allow states to use unspent Temporary Assistance to Needy Families block grant money for public school construction and hiring additional teachers.

Realistically, Collins said, the proposed $800 billion in tax simplification, spread over ten years, may be whittled down to $500 billion or $600 billion in favor of further reductions in public debt.

"By reducing the public held debt, the government becomes less of a competitor for money in the market place, and that in turn lowers interest rates," he said.

But tax relief still is likely to be part of the total package, he said. Proposals target the so-called "marriage penalty" and marginal rates, which were increased in the 1993 tax reform bill.

"We need to look at where taxes were increased in 1993 and start bringing that down," he said. "They are the ones who have been carrying the load."