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

DATE: THURSDAY, January 12, 1995                   TAG: 9501120080
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN SENATE, A VOTE TO OBEY LAWS

Taking five days to do what the House did in about an hour, the Senate on Wednesday approved its first bill, requiring Congress to follow workplace laws other employers must obey.

The measure, approved 98-1, now goes back to the House, which was expected to approve it as a substitute to the one it passed 429-0 in about 75 minutes on its marathon opening-day session last week.

Republicans, intent on revolutionizing Congress, set a goal of getting a bill to President Clinton before his State of the Union address this month.

But Senate rules allowing unlimited debate and unrelated amendments gave minority Democrats a chance to force votes on a range of other pet congressional reform and social welfare issues.

``One of our themes was to end business as usual,'' said Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, noting that Democrats proposed the workplace bill last session.

The Democrats had promoted a number of other, equally important bills aimed at ending business as usual, Daschle said, and they wanted to remind Republicans of them.

Some amendments were, in fact, related to how Congress does business, such as the proposal by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., that would prevent members of Congress from converting campaign funds to personal use.

Others simply put Republicans in the embarrassing position of voting against popular ideas.

Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., sought a Senate pledge not to approve any future legislation that would increase the number of hungry or homeless children in America.

All the Republicans voted to table that amendment, and Majority Leader Bob Dole said, ``I understand this is an opportunity to offer a lot of amendments and make the Republicans look heartless and cold, and all this. This is not going to work.''

Also on Wednesday, Republicans in the House Judiciary Committee used their majority muscle to send to the House floor a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget by 2002.

The measure passed on a straight party-line vote, 20-13, after nine hours of debate and votes defeating several Democratic amendments, including one that would have shielded Social Security cuts aimed at eliminating the deficit. Rep. Bill McCollum of Florida was the only Republican to vote for that.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rep. Martin Frost of Texas, reacted immediately: ``Last year we said a Republican Congress would cut Social Security, and they denied it. Every senior citizen deserves to know about this vote.''

by CNB