Copyright 2000 / Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles
Times
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September 21, 2000, Thursday, Home Edition
SECTION: Part A; Part 1; Page 21; National Desk
LENGTH: 906 words
HEADLINE:
SENATE REJECTS GOP SPENDING BILL WITH PAY RAISE;
LEGISLATION: BOTH
PARTIES JOIN IN DEFEATING THE FUNDING MEASURE FOR GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. DEMOCRATS
SAY THEY HAD NO CHANCE TO OFFER ANY AMENDMENTS.
BYLINE:
JANET HOOK, TIMES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:
WASHINGTON
BODY:
Capitol Hill's year-end budget process
skidded off-track Wednesday as the Senate took the extraordinary step of
rejecting a routine appropriation bill--in part because it would allow a
congressional pay raise.
The 69-28 vote defeating the measure was an
embarrassing setback for Republican congressional leaders eager to end this
legislative session so lawmakers can concentrate on campaigning for November's
high-stakes election.
The bill was defeated by a coalition that included
Republicans opposed to the pay raise and to spending increases proposed for an
array of government programs. They joined a bloc of Democrats who were angry
because GOP leaders tried to ram the bill through without allowing them to offer
amendments.
The measure, which would fund the Treasury Department and
other federal agencies, already had been deemed "unacceptable" by President
Clinton, who said it did not include enough funding for the Internal Revenue
Service and counter-terrorism efforts. He also objected to the inclusion of an
unrelated measure to repeal the 3% excise tax on telephone service.
The
bill's defeat illustrates the steep challenge Republicans face as they head into
year-end budget negotiations with Clinton and his Democratic allies. With GOP
control of Congress at stake in the election, Republican leaders are under heavy
pressure to wrap up the legislative session as early as possible and with a
minimum of controversy.
But their efforts are likely to be hamstrung not
just by congressional Democrats and veto threats from Clinton but by divisions
within GOP ranks as well.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted
Stevens (R-Alaska) said that defeat of the Treasury spending bill increases
prospects that Congress will have to return to Washington after the election to
finish its budget work.
The vote also was a reminder of how politically
dicey it is for members of Congress to approve a pay raise for themselves in an
election year. Republicans voting against the bill included most of those who
face tough reelection fights this year.
Another measure of the political
sensitivity of the vote: When it became clear that the bill would be rejected, a
stampede of supporters switched to vote no. In the end, 26 Republicans joined 43
Democrats--including California's Barbara Boxer--in voting no. All votes in
favor of the bill were cast by Republicans.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein
(D-Calif.), who broke her left leg in a fall over the Labor Day weekend, was not
present.
John Czwartacki, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Trent
Lott (R-Miss.), insisted that the defeat was just a "pause," not a setback, and
that Congress eventually would pass a bill similar to the one that failed.
Still, Wednesday's action came when Congress had little time to waste.
The new federal fiscal year begins Oct. 1 and Congress has cleared only two of
the 13 appropriation bills needed to keep the government running after that. GOP
leaders had hoped to adjourn this session of Congress by Oct. 6. To step up the
budget pace, GOP leaders took the unusual step of linking two of the remaining
appropriation bills--one funding the Treasury Department and another the
legislative branch--and tying them to the unrelated measure to repeal the
telephone tax.
Democrats complained bitterly that the
package was brought to the floor under parliamentary procedures that prevented
them from offering amendments--including politically charged gun-control
measures.
Although Democratic legislators and Clinton support the idea
of repealing the telephone tax, they objected to including it
in an unrelated bill--and to passing it before Congress and the administration
reach a broader agreement about the year's budget priorities.
Clinton's
veto threat also was spurred by his push for more money for the IRS. The bill
provided $ 300 million less than the $ 8.9 billion Clinton requested for the
agency--money he said is needed to help carry out wide-ranging reforms mandated
by Congress to make it more responsive to taxpayers. Those concerns were shared
by at least one senior Republican, Senate Finance Committee Chairman William V.
Roth Jr. of Delaware, who was among those voting against the bill.
Sen.
John McCain (R-Ariz.) lambasted the bill for including millions of dollars worth
of projects that he labeled "pork barrel." McCain was particularly vitriolic
about $ 14.8 million included for communication equipment for the 2002 Winter
Olympics in Salt Lake City.
But Stevens said that most of the
Republicans who opposed the bill did so because of the congressional pay raise.
Members of Congress, who now earn $ 141,300 a year, are scheduled to get a 2.7%
cost-of-living increase next year unless lawmakers move to specifically block
it. The Treasury Department funding bill traditionally is the vehicle to stymie
congressional pay hikes, and this version included no such amendment.
That infuriated Democrats who have been lobbying to increase the federal
minimum wage by $ 1. "No way am I going to support raising our salary . . . when
this Congress and this Senate has not been willing to raise the minimum wage
from $ 5.15 an hour to $ 6.15," said Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.).
Stevens, a leading proponent of allowing lawmakers annual cost-of-living
increases, insisted the vote did not mean the pay raise for lawmakers was dead.
"I'm waiting for their wives to get to them," he said.
LANGUAGE: English
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September 21, 2000 
