Copyright 2000 Star Tribune
Star Tribune
(Minneapolis, MN)
December 16, 2000, Saturday, Metro Edition
SECTION: NEWS; Votes in Congress; Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 1792 words
HEADLINE:
Congress calls it a session;
The 106th adjourns after reaching
$634 billion budget deal
BYLINE: Kevin
Diaz; Andrew Donohue; Staff Writers
DATELINE:
Washington, D.C.
BODY:
In its last act after a
bitterly protracted election season, Congress finished work Friday on a year-end
spending package that provides record amounts of money for schools, hospitals,
medical research centers and farmers.
The final
$634 billion deal _ also President Clinton's last _ broke a
10-week impasse that was suspended over the elections and kept a lame-duck
Congress in session longer than at any time since 1995, the year many federal
agencies were temporarily shut down.
The deal also
capped the work of the 106th Congress, one that was derided by its Democratic
minority as a "do-nothing Congress," but which nonetheless engineered an
unprecedented expansion of federal spending on a number of fronts, particularly
Medicare and education.
For Minnesota, the impact of
the Clinton era's last round of spending is most likely to be felt by seniors
who will enjoy broader Medicare coverage, schoolchildren who will see more
teachers and after-school programs, and farmers who will get greater amounts of
emergency aid than ever before.
"In education,
health care and community renewal, this budget provides more opportunity for
more Americans than ever before," said Clinton, who was certain to sign the
measure.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.,
praised the package's increases for education, health, Medicare and economic
development. "Today, through compromise, Democrats and Republicans came together
in the Congress," he said.
"It's a good bill," said
Rep. Martin Sabo, D-Minn., a member of the House Appropriations Committee. "It
took a long time to end. But after some major chaos, we passed a very generous
spending bill."
Still, after a week of budget
negotiations during which both sides gave as much as they got, many members of
Congress left Washington on Friday night amid continuing feelings of rancor and
disappointment.
Despite their majorities in the House
and Senate, Republicans were unable to get Clinton to sign on to a
$240 billion tax cut. Democrats, who gave up on a minimum wage
increase, a "patients' bill of rights" and senior drug benefits, complained that
human needs were being sacrificed for Republican budget trimming.
Final day negotiations bogged down in differences over
immigration policy and environmental regulations to protect sea lions in Alaska.
In the end, members on both sides found themselves staring at a foot-thick
appropriations document containing three spending bills that had been left over
since Oct. 1, when the 2001 budget year began.
.
Budget intrigue
Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., complaining about
White House concessions and 11th-hour Senate intrigue, said he intended to vote
against the final budget deal.
But Senate Majority
Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., passed the
measure through a parliamentary procedure known as "unanimous consent," whereby
a bill is approved so long as there is no objection. Wellstone, unaware of the
tactic, was not in the Senate chamber when the bill was taken up.
"Senate leadership snuck the bill through," said
Wellstone spokesman James Farrell, adding that the absence of advance notice
appeared to be deliberate.
Among Wellstone's
objections was the absence of future funding for low-income home energy
assistance, as well as White House compromises on Democratic demands to improve
benefits for legal immigrants.
Sen. Rod Grams,
R-Minn., on his last day in the Senate, also expressed unhappiness with the
final deal, complaining that Democratic stall tactics were responsible for
last-hour confusion.
"The spending is much higher than
I support, and much higher than the Republican leadership wanted," he said. "The
process has to satisfy a lot of conflicting priorities and agendas, and in the
end the taxpayers get a spending bill they can't afford."
But Florida Republican Bill Young, chairman of the
House Appropriations Committee, said, the package was the best that could be
achieved with bipartisan agreement. "Anybody who wants to find something to
oppose in this bill will find it," he said. "It's a huge bill."
The omnibus budget legislation passed the House by a
vote of 292 to 60. All members of the Minnesota delegation voted in favor,
except Democratic Rep. Jim Oberstar, who was recorded as not voting.
The House debate was suspended for 10 minutes for a
farewell speech by Rep. David Minge, the four-term Minnesota Democrat who was
narrowly defeated by Republican challenger Mark Kennedy.
Minge made a plea for campaign-finance overhaul,
stronger regulation of private-sector monopolies, streamlining of government
programs and a greater bipartisan spirit in Congress. In his eight-year career
in the House, he said, "I have seen bitter party
differences and shared the frustration of stalemate and even shutdown."
.
Minnesota's share
Republicans, for
their part, didn't get all the increased defense spending and tax cuts they
wanted, but they claimed victory in pressing to use 90 percent of the budget
surplus to pay down the national debt. "This bill is great news for the folks of
Minnesota," said Rep. Gil Gutknecht, R-Minn. "It keeps our promise to pay down
the national debt, invest in our children's education and strengthen Medicare."
The Medicare package, including $35
billion in "givebacks" partially restoring cuts made in 1997, was one of the
areas of greatest bipartisan agreement.
Peter Wyckoff,
executive director of the metropolitan region of the Minnesota Senior
Federation, said the Medicare package "doesn't correct the problem, but it takes
the most pronounced step forward in a decade."
He said
that a measure evening out disparities in state reimbursement checks will
increase Medicare plus Choice funding in the metro area by 17 to 30 percent.
"We would hope that this leads to health plans lowering their premiums,"
he said. About 35,000 Minnesota seniors are enrolled in the Medicare plus Choice
program; 400,000 are enrolled in Medicare overall.
Negotiators also increased education spending by 18
percent, approving a $44.5 billion package that is expected to
pump $78 million into Minnesota for reducing class sizes,
after-school programs, special education programs, and other initiatives.
.
Accomplishments
The spending bill
finished off a year of federal legislative initiatives that could improve the
Minnesota economy.
For the third straight year,
Congress authorized emergency farm relief to compensate for low crop prices.
This year, the package totaled $15 billion.
In Minnesota, $313 million was
divided up among 80,000 farms, according to Glenn Schafer of the Minnesota Farm
Service Agency. An additional $38 million in relief will be
distributed for oilseed farmers and $56 million to dairy
farmers.
The state's agriculture economy got another
boost this year when Congress and the White House agreed to grant permanent
normal trade relations with China.
The budget deal,
trumpeted by many members as the 106th Congress' most significant
accomplishment, is estimated to boost exports to China by $13
billion in five years and agriculture exports by $2.2 billion.
Championed by the likes of Gov. Jesse Ventura and
other free-trade advocates, the liberalized trade status is expected to buoy
Minnesota exports to China _ the state's 12th largest export market.
Mike Ryan, director of international sales for
American Medical Systems, said China is an important, booming market for the
Minnetonka company. "You've got to get over there _ things are buzzing," he
said. "Government and business are beginning to see it clearly as a market that
one has to be in. We're very committed to it."
Wellstone was one of a handful of ardent opponents of
the bill, joining labor and human rights organizations in warning that free
trade with China would cost U.S. jobs and reward China for its dismal
human-rights record.
In one of the last humanitarian
efforts in his 24 years in Congress, the late Rep. Bruce Vento, D-Minn., led the
push to ease citizenship requirements for Hmong and Lao veterans who served in a
secret U.S. army during the Vietnam War.
The bill, and
a later one that included veterans' widows, has cleared the way for an estimated
16,000 to 18,000 Hmong and Lao in Minnesota to become U.S. citizens _ the
highest total nationwide, said Phillip Smith, a representative for the Lao
Veterans of America.
For the Twin cities, Congress
also approved $50 million this year for the Hiawatha Corridor
of the planned Light Rail Transit link, as well as low-income tax credits to
foster private investment in North Minneapolis' newly formed economic
Empowerment Zone.
But a bill sponsored by Grams
that was wrapped into the final appropriations package drew the ire of
supporters of low-power FM radio. It curbs a Federal
Communications Commission ruling that was set to open up the airwaves to
churches and community groups.
Supporters of Grams'
bill, including Minnesota Public Radio and the National Association of
Broadcasters, were afraid that the low-power signals would interfere with
existing services _ especially a reading service for the blind.
But, contrary to Democratic assertions that the 106th
Congress accomplished little, House Minority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, observed
that its chief legacy was preventing Clinton and the Democrats from getting
everything they wanted.
"Do you really believe
that a Democratic majority would be paying down the debt . . . and balancing the
budget?" he said.
The 107th Congress begins on
Jan. 3 and will feature a Senate split evenly between the two parties and a
closely divided House. Republican George W. Bush will inherit Clinton's job 17
days later.
.
Kevin Diaz can
be contacted at kdiaz@mcclatchydc.com
Andrew Donohue can be contacted at
intern@mcclatchydc.com
.
<PRE>
.
Votes in
Congress
.
House:
- Legislation that includes
$450 billion in spending for federal programs
in fiscal
year 2001 was approved, 292-60. The Senate approved it on a
voice vote,
and the 106th Congress adjourned. The 107th Congress begins
on Jan. 3.
.
Minn. Yes
No Yes
No
Gutknecht, R
X Ramstad,
R X
Luther,
D X Minge,
D X
Oberstar,
D NV Peterson,
D X
Sabo,
D X
.
N.D. Yes
No
Pomeroy,
D X
.
S.D. Yes
No
Thune,
R X
.
Wis. Yes
No Yes
No
Kind,
D X Obey,
D X
</PRE>
GRAPHIC: CHART; PHOTO
LOAD-DATE: December 18, 2000 
