"Secretary Rubin has been extremely ingenious at how he's been able to get into people's retirement funds and grab up that money to keep the Government running," he said.

As Secretary Rubin, a former co-chairman at Goldman, Sachs & Company, discovered last week, that is a hard argument to make out in the heartland.

"Secretary Rubin, the Department of the Treasury, and the United Secret Service remain fully committed to that decision today," Mr. Johnson said.

Secretary Rubin, the President's chief economic strategist, said in Washington the other day that Mr. Clinton will "clearly be asserting economic leadership."

This visionary decision by Secretary Rubin celebrates a remarkable woman.

Senator Dole put even greater distance between himself and the plan in a letter on March 10 to Secretary Rubin.

"Secretary Rubin has now changed by a week in a week."

Dr. Tyson, they said, is now more likely than Secretary Rubin to be the official most often dispatched to talk shows as the advocate of the Administration's positions.

Secretary Rubin said he would recommend a Presidential veto of the current measure.

Secretary Rubin did not discuss increasing the I.M.F.'s quotas.