The Administration's position has been that the surplus should continue to be counted in the overall budget.
Annual surpluses will continue, allowing the foundation to increase grants to arts organizations.
Until then, commodity analysts predicted, surpluses will continue to depress the corn market.
The House plan calls for at least $150 billion in tax cuts, and as much as $240 billion if the projected surplus continues to grow.
In releasing the figures, the ministry said it expected that the surplus would continue to decline despite the recent weakness of the Japanese yen.
China's exports, and its surplus, continue to grow rapidly; the 2006 surplus was 75 percent greater than 2005's.
Council officials say they think the surplus will continue to grow, and that by the end of June, it could be as high as $700 million.
While air travel is now recovering, a surplus of planes continues.
But they are twins in their confidence that a surplus, having finally materialized in 1998, will continue to do so for a decade.
The premise of his comment was that surpluses of some size would continue.