Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 8, 1994 TAG: 9410110023
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
A weary Congress lurched toward adjournment Friday as the House wound up its major business and the Senate girded for a final siege of guerrilla warfare after giving up all hope of enacting legislation this year to tighten controls over lobbyists.
With Democratic leaders struggling to wrest as much legislation as possible from the partisan gridlock that has gripped the 103rd Congress, there were these other developments:
The Senate joined the House in giving final approval to easing of the ``nanny tax'' so that household employers, starting with the 1994 tax year, would have to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on any worker earning at least $1,000 a year. The current threshold is $50 a quarter. Teen-age baby sitters would be exempt.
A congressional plan to improve the quality of water Americans drink died Friday because of eleventh-hour squabbling among lawmakers.
Congress gave final approval to legislation reauthorizing federal child nutrition programs and giving schools flexibility in meeting new federal requirements, imposed in June, to cut fat in school lunches.
Sponsors of the lobbying bill declared it dead after they failed for a second time to break a Republican-led filibuster, gaining five votes but remaining 11 short of the number needed to force the measure to a final vote. As happened Thursday, Virginia Sen. John Warner voted to continue the filibuster; Sen. Charles Robb voted to end it.
They tried to ``call [the Republicans'] bluff,'' as Sen. Carl M. Levin, D-Mich., put it, by dropping provisions involving grass-roots lobbying that Republicans complained about in Thursday's vote.
The Senate then tried to take up a bill to protect millions of acres of California desert but ran into more delaying tactics, starting with a move by Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R- Wyo., to require that the entire 61-page report on the measure be read aloud, taking 21/2 hours. Wallop contends the National Park Service already is overextended.
At one point, Wallop objected to the presence of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt on the Senate floor. Babbitt left, only to return minutes later when it was determined he had floor privileges as a Cabinet secretary.
Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, has vowed to keep the Senate in session as long as it takes - if necessary until Sunday or perhaps later - to force a vote on the desert bill. Democrats accuse Republicans of trying to kill the bill to help defeat Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., its chief sponsor.
Hanging in limbo were two other high-profile bills that many members want to pass before facing voters in November. One would force Congress to abide by the worker protection laws it imposes on others. The other would make it more difficult for Congress to impose requirements on state and local governments without paying for them.
The lobbying bill joined health care, campaign finance, Superfund cleanup and several other major initiatives as casualties of the session's last month, dominated by GOP efforts to block Democratic victories in hopes of taking control of Congress in the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
``A cynical and now openly boastful attitude of obstruction is being carried out in the Senate time after time on legislative initiatives of this Congress,'' said normally low-key House Speaker Thomas Foley, D-Wash.
``We ought to forget about this Congress as quickly as we can and go home,'' said Minority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan.
by CNB