Copyright 1999 The National Journal, Inc.
The National Journal
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October 9, 1999
SECTION: CONGRESS; Pg. 2892; Vol. 31, No. 41
LENGTH: 1487 words
HEADLINE:
Pivotal Events in Congress, October 4-7
BYLINE: Jill
Graham and Charlie Mitchell
BODY:
House
Passes Bipartisan Health Care Bill
After rejecting
three GOP alternatives, the House on Oct.
7 passed, 275-151--with 68
Republicans voting in favor--the
bipartisan patients' rights proposal
sponsored by Reps. Charlie
Norwood, R-Ga., and John D. Dingell, D-Mich. The
vote came after
Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., tried, but failed, to
salvage
control at the 11th hour by backing a limited right for patients
to sue their health-insurance carriers. President Clinton had
raised the
ante by challenging lawmakers to show that they are
not part of a
''lame-duck Congress.'' The bipartisan bill was
merged with a separate
measure--passed by the House a day earlier
and opposed by most
Democrats--that would expand various health-
related tax incentives. In
July, the Senate approved a Republican
managed-care reform
bill that is far narrower than the House
measure. Lawmakers face procedural
and policy obstacles in
resolving differences between the two chambers, and
in producing
a bill that can win Clinton's approval. Senate Minority Leader
Thomas A. Daschle, D-S.D., has said he wants a Senate vote on the
House-passed bill before a conference committee begins--probably
next
year. -- Richard E. Cohen/National Journal
How Limited Is Limited Tax
Relief? Senate Finance Committee Chairman William V. Roth
Jr., R-
Del., on Oct. 5 unveiled a $ 75 billion, 10-year bill to renew
expired tax credits and provide relief from the Individual
Alternative
Minimum Tax. The measure would be financed almost
entirely from on-budget
surplus money projected over the next
decade. Many Finance Committee
Republicans voiced opposition to
the measure's scope; they worry that
anything but a very modest
bill would become a magnet for potential killer
amendments.
Democrats this week put together a rival $ 35 billion tax
measure,
which they said would not tap into the surplus. White House Press
Secretary Joe Lockhart, meanwhile, on Oct. 7 suggested tacking on
to the
Roth bill some of President Clinton's priorities, such as
tax incentives for
building and renovating schools. In the House,
floor action on a $ 23
billion, five-year package of tax breaks
depends largely on progress on the
spending bills.--Stephen
Norton/CongressDaily
Enduring Across-the-Board
Pain
Republican leaders, searching for a way to
finish the
spending bills without dipping into the Social Security surplus,
this week floated the idea of an across-the-board cut. Democrats
hated
the proposal, but the GOP reaction was mixed. On Oct. 6,
Senate Republicans
did push through a nonbinding resolution
advocating an across-the-board cut.
Still, some Republicans
already are piping up that politically sensitive
programs would
have to be exempt. Among those worried: James T. Walsh of New
York, the chairman of the House VA-HUD Appropriations
Subcommittee, who
warned that it would be risky to slash
veterans' health care programs.
Congress made halting progress
this week on the remainder of the 13
appropriations bills. Two
bills--Foreign Operations and Transportation--won
final approval,
but the Clinton Administration has raised objections to both
of
them. Thus far, President Clinton has signed four of the bills
and
vetoed one. The conference report on the Agriculture funding
measure is hung
up in the Senate, where northeastern Senators are
unhappy over disaster
relief and dairy issues. House-Senate
negotiators completed the Defense
appropriations conference
report, and haggled over the Veteran
Affairs-Housing and Urban
Development bill. But the massive Labor, Health
and Human
Services, and Education bill is tied up in the House.--David
Baumann/National Journal
Work Stoppage on House Labor-HHS Bill
House Republican leaders canceled floor debate this
week
on the traditionally most contentious of the appropriations
bills,
the one covering the Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education
departments. The move followed a fusillade of criticism
that escalated on
Sept. 30 over a scheme, championed by House
Majority Whip Tom DeLay,
R-Texas, to save $ 8.7 billion. DeLay's
plan called for spreading out
payments under the Earned Income
Tax Credit, instead of giving the working
poor a lump sum when
they file their tax returns. President Clinton and
Democratic
lawmakers fired shots at the DeLay proposal, but there was also
one surprise sniper: the Republicans' own leading presidential
aspirant,
Texas Gov. George W. Bush, whose standards for
''compassionate
conservatism'' apparently were unmet. --Bill
Ghent/National Journal
News Service
FAA Measure Is Airborne at Last
The
Senate on Oct. 5 passed long-stalled legislation to
reauthorize the Federal
Aviation Administration and the Airport
Improvement Program. The bill,
sponsored by Senate Commerce
Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., had
been held up most of
the year due to opposition to his plan to add more
takeoffs and
landings at four airports: O'Hare in Chicago, Kennedy and La
Guardia in New York City, and Reagan National in Washington. But
with
the new fiscal year under way, Senate leaders agreed to
limit debate on the
bill in order to move it quickly. That
decision headed off any filibuster by
Sen. Charles S. Robb, D-
Va., who opposes adding flights at Reagan National
and who faces
a tough re-election battle, and freshman Sen. Peter G.
Fitzgerald, R-Ill., who made stopping more flights at O'Hare part
of his
1998 campaign. The House-Senate conference committee will
start immediately.
The next fight: House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee Chairman
Bud Shuster, R-Pa., wants to
spend $ 14 billion more on infrastructure over
four years than
called for in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.
--Matthew
Morrissey/CongressDaily
Banging the Gavel on Judicial Nominees
The Senate's party-line rejection on Oct. 5 of the
nomination of Ronnie L. White to a federal judgeship in Missouri
portends more acrimony--and probably inaction--on other judicial
nominees by the 106th Congress. Democrats charged that White, an
African-American, was voted down because of his race. Sen.
Patrick
Leahy, D-Vt., wondered whether the vote signaled a return
to a ''color test
on nominations,'' although Senate Majority Whip
Don Nickles, R-Okla., said
that such charges ''offended'' him.
White wasn't confirmed, Nickles said,
because many Missouri law
enforcement officials opposed him, as did the
state's Senators,
Republicans John Ashcroft and Christopher S. Bond.
Ashcroft, who
faces a tough re-election battle, is sure to highlight his
hard-
line stance against ''activist'' judges in his campaign. --Kirk
Victor/National Journal
Reality Check on Medicare Reform
The White House--the last bastion of optimism that
comprehensive Medicare reform was possible this year--appears to
be
coming to grips with political reality. At a meeting at the
White House on
Oct. 5, Senate Finance Committee Chairman William
V. Roth Jr., R-Del., and
ranking member Daniel Patrick Moynihan,
D-N.Y., emphasized to President
Clinton that there is only enough
time remaining on the congressional
calendar to reverse some of
the more-bruising changes to Medicare made under
the 1997
Balanced Budget Act, which cut payments to teaching hospitals and
other service providers. Clinton suggested that at least part of
his
Medicare reform plan--cost-saving modernizations to the
Medicare
fee-for-service program--be added to pay for the Budget
Act modifications.
The rest of his Medicare proposal, including a
prescription drug benefit and
adding more competition to the
Medicare managed-care option, is in all
likelihood on the shelf
until next year.--Keith Koffler/CongressDaily
The Week Ahead
The outlook for legislative activity during the week of
Oct. 11:
Senate
- A vote is possible on Oct. 12
or 13 on the
Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty, but ongoing negotiations could
cause a delay. Debate is also planned on campaign finance reform.
House
- Action is expected on the Labor-Health and Human
Services-Education appropriations bill, even though leaders
continue to
search for alternative spending offsets. Also on the
agenda is Title 1 of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act,
and the Export Enhancement Act.
CongressDaily's Final Word
''I'd much rather
deal with bombs going off than with health
care. At least with national
security, I can usually
figure out who the enemy is.''
--Rep. Porter J. Goss of Florida, a Republican point man
in the health
care debate, expressing his desire on Oct. 5 to
return to his duties as
chairman of the House Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence.
LOAD-DATE: October 11, 1999 
