Copyright 1999 The Hartford Courant Company
THE
HARTFORD COURANT
November 11, 1999 Thursday, B SOUTH
CENTRAL/SHORELINE
SECTION: MAIN; Pg. A24
LENGTH: 1033 words
HEADLINE:
BUDGET ISSUES NARROW, BUT CONGRESS WON'T ADJOURN YET
BYLINE: Staff and Wire Reports
DATELINE: WASHINGTON --
BODY:
Bargainers moved toward a deal Wednesday that would let the International
Monetary Fund step up its debt-relief efforts. But a last-ditch effort by
Republican leaders to quickly strike a broad budget agreement with the White
House and adjourn Congress by the weekend fell short.
The two sides
exchanged offers over President Clinton's $1.4 billion request to hire thousands
of new teachers and an effort by conservatives to clamp restrictions on overseas
abortion lobbying. Both have been among the major disputes holding up completion
of Congress' budget business for fiscal 2000, which began Oct. 1.
But a
meeting between congressional and White House bargainers broke up early
Wednesday evening with bargainers expressing faint hope of finishing quickly.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., sent the Senate home for Veterans
Day and said there would be no votes there until at least next Wednesday.
"There's no way we can get this done tonight," Senate Appropriations
Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said of budget bargaining.
House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said he was nearing an
agreement with Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers over international debt
relief.
Armey had opposed an administration effort to let the
International Monetary Fund sell up to 14 million ounces of its gold and use the
extra money to help multinational banks forgive some debt owed by poor
countries. Helping some of those countries' economies by easing their loan
problems has become an administration priority.
Armey said the two sides
are moving toward an agreement to let the IMF re-value some of its gold at more
than the $48 per ounce it is currently valued and use the extra capital for debt
forgiveness. Included would be "iron clad" language limiting the use of that
money for debt forgiveness, Armey said.
Earlier, amid a flurry of
meetings, Republicans predicted that an end to their yearlong budget fight with
Clinton was near. They said a package containing perhaps all five incomplete
spending bills for the new fiscal year might reach the floor of Congress by
Friday.
Democrats also insisted that fights were still raging. They said
in particular that disputes over hiring teachers and paying nearly $1 billion in
overdue United States dues to the United Nations -- which conservative have
linked to the overseas abortion issue -- were not resolved.
Also still
to be addressed was how the two sides would pay for the several billion dollars
in extra spending that Clinton's negotiators have won in recent days'
bargaining.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said
he had a package of savings that would let them abandon the 1 percent
across-the-board cut in planned agency spending that Congress approved last
month. Clinton opposed that cut, saying it was "mindless" and would hurt federal
programs.
Sound Cleanup
As the budget talks proceeded, Congress
also worked on a variety of other issues. Among them:
Twenty House
members, including Connecticut's delegation, introduced legislation Wednesday
calling on Congress to spend up to $80 million a year for the next four years to
clean up pollution in Long Island Sound.
"We need to devote an
appropriate level of funding for cleanup if we want to see results," said Rep.
Nancy L. Johnson, R-6th District, who organized support for the legislation.
Environmental groups have endorsed it.
New York and Connecticut have
been getting $3 million a year to develop a Long Island Sound conservation plan.
The added money would allow the states to put that plan into operation, Johnson
said, and would help small towns along the Sound upgrade water treatment plants.
Patent Extension
Three Democratic senators,
citing the high cost of prescription drugs, pledged to block
any congressional maneuvers to help extend the patent on the
allergy medicine Claritin.
Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., is pushing
legislation that would help New Jersey-based Schering-Plough Corp. contest the
expiration of its Claritin patent in 2002. Such a move, if
successful, would put off the day when generic drug-makers can
begin marketing cheaper versions of the popular drug.
"For allergy sufferers, this legislation is like taking a $100 bill out
of their wallets," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "It's one of the most
anti-consumer pieces of legislation we could pass in this Congress."
Added Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.: "It's just the opposite of what every
American wants Congress to do."
The Senate Judiciary Committee was
scheduled to take up Torricelli's bill Wednesday. But Schumer and Leahy, members
of the committee, forced a one-week delay, raising questions about whether the
bill will come up again before the Senate recesses for the year.
The
price of Claritin is so high -- up to $2.66 per daily tablet -- that some health
insurance companies no longer pay for it.
The bill would let Schering-
Plough petition the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for three
years of additional patent protection on the grounds that the
Food and Drug Administration took an excessively long time to
approve its use.
Promoting Fatherhood
Also, the House sought to
promote fatherhood in low-income families by expanding job training and
employment opportunities and supporting programs that help men meet their
responsibilities as husbands.
Passage of the "Fathers Count Act" came
after a lengthy debate over the separation of church and state and defeat of an
amendment that would have barred federal funds from the bill from going directly
to churches and other houses of worship.
The bill, which passed 328-93,
sets aside $150 million over six years in grants to nonprofit groups, including
religious ones, and state agencies with programs providing educational, economic
or employment aid to young parents.
It will help "poor fathers meet
their responsibilities by promoting marriage, improving their parenting skills
and developing their earning power," said Johnson, of Connecticut, who
co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Ben Cardin, D-Md.
She said there are
nearly 20 million children living without fathers, a cause of school failure,
drug addiction, delinquency and crime.
LOAD-DATE: November 11, 1999
