Copyright 2001 Gannett Company, Inc.
USA TODAY
March 26, 2001, Monday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 14A
LENGTH: 518 words
HEADLINE:
Bankruptcy bottleneck threatens other legislation Dispute may hinder president's
agenda
BYLINE: Kathy Kiely; William M. Welch
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
WASHINGTON -- A dispute between leaders of the evenly divided
Senate is
blocking enactment of bankruptcy legislation and threatens
to bottle up
other items on President Bush's wish list.
Bush is eager to sign the
bankruptcy bill, which would make it
harder for consumers to escape their
debts by declaring bankruptcy.
It cleared both the House and Senate this
month by large margins.
But its arrival on Bush's desk has been stalled
because Senate
leaders Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Tom Daschle, D-S.D., are at
odds
over the makeup of a conference committee that has to work out
differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill.
The impasse offers the first evidence that a Senate with 50
Republicans
and 50 Democrats will be a major obstacle to Bush's agenda,
which
includes proposals on education, energy and aid to social programs
run by religious groups.
"It's going to really slow things up
around here," says Sen.
Harry Reid, D-Nev., the deputy Democratic leader.
Under a historic power-sharing deal, each party gets an equal
number of seats on Senate committees. But the agreement doesn't
address
Senate appointees to conference committees. Such committees
are appointed to
work out differences between similar but separate
legislation passed by the
House and Senate. Republicans want a
one-vote majority to reflect Vice
President Cheney's tie-breaking
vote, but Democrats insist on equal
representation based on the
chamber's split. "I certainly wouldn't stand for
anything other
than 50-50. . . . We Democrats must hang in there," Reid
says.
If the impasse continues, GOP leaders might have to play a
time-consuming
game of congressional pingpong to pass the bankruptcy bill:
The
House would amend the Senate bill and send it back for another
vote.
But that risks reigniting battles over the most controversial
elements.
The Senate version would let debtors shelter more assets from
creditors. It also would prohibit anti-abortion activists
from
escaping legal fines by declaring bankruptcy. House
Republicans
are determined to strip both provisions from a final bill. That
could give senators a reason to vote against the bill and threaten
passage.
The end result: Sidestepping a conference committee
means that
it could take months of dealmaking before a bill arrives on
Bush's
desk. That's an ominous sign for more controversial bills yet
to
come. Virtually every major bill passed by Congress goes to
a conference
committee.
"Congress won't be able to function if there's not a
majority
party to vote out a final version of legislation," says Jill
Kozeny, spokeswoman for Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley,
R-Iowa.
Bush's budget and tax-cut proposals might circumvent the roadblock.
Republicans can use special Senate rules to control budget and
tax
conference panels.
Republicans acknowledge that the stalemate over
other conferences
provides a back-door way for Democrats to block
legislation. Says
House Speaker Dennis Hastert's spokesman, John Feehery,
"We could
be in for a lot of pingpong."
LOAD-DATE: March 26, 2001
