Copyright 2000 Gannett Company, Inc.
USA TODAY
February 3, 2000, Thursday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 8A
LENGTH: 561 words
HEADLINE:
Gore rushes to cast a tiebreaking vote
BYLINE: Wendy
Koch
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
WASHINGTON -- Only in an election year would
a vice president
hop a commercial flight for official business and 35
Republican
senators vote for a measure championed by abortion rights forces.
This happened Wednesday when Al Gore made a sudden detour to Capitol
Hill -- refusing to waste time waiting for Air Force Two -- to
showcase
his support for abortion rights.
To deny him a chance at casting a
headline-grabbing, tiebreaking
vote, Republicans backed an amendment
concerning people fined
for violating laws protecting
abortion clinics. The amendment
would prohibit them from
avoiding payment of the fines should
they declare
bankruptcy.
Gore, coming off his victory Tuesday in New
Hampshire's Democratic
primary, interrupted his campaign in New York City.
Senate Democrats
said he might be needed, in his role as president of the
Senate,
to break a 50-50 vote related to abortion.
Gore's rival
for the Democratic presidential nomination, former
senator Bill Bradley, has
accused Gore of wavering in his commitment
to protecting abortion rights.
Gore scrubbed visits to a Brooklyn hospital and to his only
grandchild,
7-month-old Wyatt, and zoomed off in a motorcade to LaGuardia
Airport where he caught a US Airways flight, the first time a
vice
president has flown commercially on official business. Air
Force Two was not
ready, for fuel and crew reasons, to take him.
After a press conference in
the Capitol, Gore slipped into the
presiding officer's chair on the Senate
floor.
But the 80-17 vote wasn't even close. Several Republicans had
spoken against the measure. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, called it
"tremendously flawed." But 35 Republicans, including Hatch,
joined all
45 Democrats in passing it. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald,
R-Ill., voted "present."
"(Gore) wanted theater. We didn't give it to him," Oklahoma
Sen.
Don Nickles, the second-ranking Republican leader, said.
"We didn't
particularly want to have Al Gore up there acting
like he makes a
difference."
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said, "There will be
no more
tie votes as long as Al Gore is vice president."
Last
year, Gore broke a tie on a gun-control bill that could be
used against
Republicans in campaigns.
Perhaps only in Washington can denying
someone a vote -- by voting
his way -- be called a victory.
"We
hope this establishes a new precedent: On controversial issues,
the
Republicans vote Al Gore's way," Gore spokesman Chris Lehane
said.
Republicans insisted that the measure wasn't about abortion.
Lott spokesman
John Czwartacki called it a "redundant" part
of a larger bankruptcy bill,
which passed Wednesday.
"This is not about a woman's right to
choose," Czwartacki said.
He noted that existing law does not allow people
who engage in
"malicious and willful injury" to cancel their debts.
Democrats, joined by the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights
Action League, said it had everything to do with abortion. They
said
that some violent protesters have sought to discharge debts
and that
existing law does not cover all clinic-associated violence
and intimidation.
Democrats used Gore's visit to hail his commitment to abortion
rights. If there's any doubt about where he stands, "this is
proof
positive," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
Contributing: Martin
Kasindorf
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, b/w, Teddy Blackburn,
Reuters; Off to Senate: Vice President Gore boards a jet Wednesday in New York.
He was bound for Washington to add his support to a Senate measure.
LOAD-DATE: February 03, 2000 
