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July 8, 2000, Saturday METROPOLITAN EDITION

SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 959 words

HEADLINE: 'Yes' votes good politics for House Republicans

BYLINE: KEVIN MURPHY; The Kansas City Star

BODY:
WASHINGTON - On the campaign stump this fall, House Republicans
can boast about passing prescription drug coverage for the elderly, a
campaign finance law, a bill letting doctors sue HMOs, and the easing
of trade with Cuba.

Listeners might do a doubletake and ask: Are those really
Republicans?

Yes, they are. Never mind that early this year some of those same
Republicans, standing firm on the party's dislike of big government,
dug in against such legislation. The realities of the fall election and the thin 222-211
Republican edge in the House have set in, observers say.

"This is not a surprise," said Candice Nelson, who studies
Congress as director of the Campaign Management Institute at American
University. "They are trying to insulate themselves from charges of
being too conservative. They're also trying to make sure they can
point to some accomplishments of this Congress."

Bob Walker, a former Pennsylvania congressman who is a Republican
strategist and ally of Speaker Dennis Hastert, downplayed the
political motivation.

"I'm not certain it's a moderating strategy as much as it's a
governing strategy," Walker said. "With a fairly narrow majority,
they are having to accommodate each other to keep legislation moving.
Is that a good strategy? I think it is."

Democrats were hoping to hang a "do-nothing" label on the
Republican House, some Republicans said. Instead, the House has been
unusually productive for an election year.

"Our friends on the other side of the aisle made no secret of
the fact their strategy is one dedicated to us not being able to get
anything done," said Rep. Roy Blunt, a Springfield Republican who is
deputy majority whip. "It's harder and harder for them to make that
case when you look at our accomplishments."

Democrats, however, argue that Republicans passed some of the
legislation knowing it would not get through the Senate or receive
President Clinton's signature.

"I wouldn't call it moderation as much as I'd call it political
cover," said Sue Harvey, press secretary for Rep. Richard Gephardt
of St. Louis, the Democratic minority leader. "These things they are
passing are not meant to become law."

The most recent example of what could be seen as a Republican
shift toward the middle is a bill passed June 28 that expands
Medicare to include prescription drug coverage for about 40 million
elderly participants.

The plan passed on a 217-214 vote, largely with Republican
support. It creates a government-subsidized, privately managed drug
insurance program. Republicans earlier had called the plan too
costly.

President Clinton prefers a plan that would be funded within the
Medicare structure rather than involving private insurance companies.

"Voters will see through this as an election year gimmick by
Republicans," said John Del Cecato, spokesman for the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee. "It subsidizes drug companies and
the insurance industry but does nothing to guarantee a prescription
benefit for all seniors."

Rep. Ike Skelton, a Lexington, Mo., Democrat, said Republicans
are not serious about getting the legislation into law or they would
be more aggressive in setting conference committee meetings to iron
out compromises.

"At the end of the day, will we have a patients' bill of rights
that works?" Skelton asked, referring to a bill that passed the
House but was changed in the Senate. "Will we have a prescription
drug bill for seniors that works? That's what counts, not what
appears now."

But on the campaign trail, Republicans will be able to say they
voted for the bill while Democrats will be left with the harder of
task of explaining that it may still never become law, said Nelson of
American University.

"That gets much more into how Congress works and that is much
harder to describe," Nelson said.

Marit Babin, press secretary for the Republican Congressional
Campaign Committee, said Democrats were simply irked that the bill
passed.

"It's almost like they'd rather have the problem than the
solution," Babin said. "They want the problem so they can go out
and talk about it."

Another bill House Republicans passed last month gives doctors
the right to bargain collectively with health maintenance
organizations, or HMOs. Republicans are not normally identified with
collective bargaining and have battled doctors on whether HMOs have
too much authority on health care decisions.

The House also passed a bill last month to end secret political
fund-raising by certain nonprofit groups. The measure overcame strong
objections from Rep. Tom DeLay, the majority whip, and bucked a
Republican bent against campaign finance reform.

The bill on Cuba trade would allow limited food and medicine
sales to Cuba. It was backed by regional and agricultural interests
over strong resistance from some Republican leaders.

Appeasing moderates and Republican lawmakers in tough re-election
races seems logical, said John Hibbing, a University of Nebraska
political science professor.

"You want to appeal to the center, where American people tend to
be," Hibbing said.

Hibbing said the Republican strategy of taking on controversial
bills this year ran contrary to the normal election year approach of
the party in control of the House or Senate.

"That was kind of their philosophy in 1998 - lie low and do not
make anybody upset," Hibbing said. But that didn't work as
Republicans lost seats that year. "I don't know if that's on their
mind, and maybe the worm has turned."

- To reach Kevin Murphy, a Washington correspondent for The Star,
call (202) 383-6009.

LOAD-DATE: July 8, 2000