SENATE VOTES TO KEEP OUT HIV-INFECTED IMMIGRANTS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 19, 1993                   TAG: 9302190168
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short
SENATE VOTES TO KEEP OUT HIV-INFECTED IMMIGRANTS
In a Republican-led rebuff to President Clinton the day after his State of the Union address, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to bar foreigners infected with the virus that causes AIDS from immigrating to the United States.
The ban was approved Thursday 76-23 and was added to a reauthorization bill for the National Institutes of Health. The bill was passed and sent to the House 93-4.
Clinton promised in his campaign to lift the ban on permanent immigration by people infected with the virus. A White House spokesman said this month that Clinton had instructed the Department of Health and Human Services to remove the restriction.
But with the help of 34 Democrats, Republicans succeeded in writing the ban into permanent law, short-circuiting the president's plan to repeal it by executive order.
Virginia's senators split on the ban: Republican John Warner supported it, while Democrat Charles Robb opposed it.
Despite charges by some Democrats that Republicans were playing politics and engaging in "gay bashing," the Democratic-controlled Senate chose the GOP proposal over a milder alternative drafted by Democratic leaders that would have only delayed imposition of the new policy for 90 days.
While some Republicans sought to portray the vote as a sign of weakness on Clinton's part, several Democratic senators said it had more to do with the unpopularity of some of his campaign promises. "Congress is helping him get rid of some of the baggage early on," said one senator.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB