Copyright 2000 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle
October 31, 2000, Tuesday 2 STAR EDITION
SECTION: A; Pg. 1
LENGTH:
809 words
HEADLINE: Agreement on budget falls apart in
Congress
SOURCE: Staff
BYLINE:
KAREN MASTERSON, Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
WASHINGTON - President Clinton blamed special-interest lobbyists for
unraveling key compromises that the White House and GOP leaders reached Monday
after all-night negotiations.
The two sides initially agreed on
education spending and workplace safety issues, even as they appeared unwilling
to budge on tax cuts, immigration reform and increased Medicare funding for
health maintenance organizations.
Negotiators hoped that by resolving
two of the many unresolved issues, the Democrats and Republicans would
eventually work out their differences and adjourn sometime this week.
But those hopes were dashed when GOP leaders shot down the agreements
reached by their own negotiators. Lawmakers are now more likely to remain in
session through the Nov. 7 elections - for the first time since World War II.
"Our team worked all weekend and . . . into the early morning hours (Monday) to
fashion a good-faith agreement with compromises on both sides," Clinton said
Monday. "Once again the Republican leadership has let the whispers of the
special interests drown out the voices of the American people."
"No one
has blown up any agreement," said House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land.
He said Republicans wanted to read what negotiators had worked out to make sure
the deal would work for the GOP.
Clinton said a $ 2.4 billion increase
in education funding - negotiated by the two parties - would lead to more
teachers, reduced class sizes, school repairs and modernizations, expanded
after-school programs, investments in teacher quality and more "accountability
to turn around failing schools."
"With the largest student enrollment in
history, this budget would have honored our obligation to our children," he
said.
All year, Clinton has asked that more money for education be added
to the spending bill for the departments of Labor, Education and Health and
Human Services - which is now the last of the 13 spending bills that Congress
needs to finalize.
The deal struck by all-night negotiators would have
settled another point of disagreement in that spending bill: a GOP provision
that would block new employee protections against repetitive motion injuries.
Republicans on Monday had agreed to drop that provision and replace it
with one that would give the new president power to implement the rules - on the
expectation that GOP candidate George W. Bush would block them if he is elected.
But Democrats were worried that interference from the conservative wing
of the party would kill the deal and lead to more "wasted time" working out
compromises that "go nowhere."
"This is not a do-nothing Congress," said
House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo. "This is a dysfunctional
Congress."
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce vehemently opposes the workplace
- or so-called ergonomic - rules because of the burden they would place on
businesses.
In retaliation, Clinton said he may veto the spending bill
that provides funding for the U.S. Postal Service, the Treasury Department and
Congress. He had originally agreed to sign it, despite a $ 55 billion
telephone tax cut that Democrats oppose and the GOP supports.
"I haven't decided yet," Clinton said. "The bill itself is all right,
but there's something that strikes me as a little wrong in taking care of the
Congress . . . when we haven't taken care of the American people. I just haven't
decided what to do about it yet." Clinton had until midnight Monday to decide.
DeLay said if Clinton vetoes the bill, his word is "worth nothing." As
part of an agreement over the telephone tax, Republicans made
compromises on other spending bills that already have been signed into law.
"If he does that, that just throws everything else out the window,"
DeLay said. "We're standing firm against their liberal principles. . . . We're
standing firm on our principles. And yes, we've had to compromise. But we will
not respond to ultimatums."
As the two sides grew more entrenched in
party warfare, the Nov. 7 elections draw near. Congress on Monday passed another
one-day spending measure to keep the government open as negotiators try to work
out their differences.
One analyst said that because so much is at stake
this election year - from control of the executive branch and Congress to the
future makeup of the Supreme Court - both parties are better off waiting until
after the election to decide the more politically sensitive issues.
"The
parties are polarized," said Sarah Binder, a fellow at the Brookings
Institution, a political think tank.
"Historically, some great decisions
have been made in lame-duck sessions," she said of the few times lawmakers have
had to come back after elections to complete unfinished business.
"It's
valuable because the competing (elections) are gone. Maybe that's the
environment you need to make tough decisions."
GRAPHIC: Photo: President Clinton pauses while
speaking to reporters Monday about his frustrations with the GOP-led Congress
over spending legislation. "Once again the Republican leadership has let the
whispers of the special interests drown out the voices of the American people,"
he said (p. 10); Associated Press
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