Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 24, 1995 TAG: 9503240138
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Republicans hailed the 69-29 vote as another victory in their multipronged effort to trim government.
The House approved a different version last month, and before the bill can be sent to President Clinton, who has said he will sign it, differences between the Senate and the House versions must be resolved by a conference committee.
Whatever the shape of the final bill that reaches Clinton's desk, it could produce a major power shift in Washington and create what even its most ardent supporters concede will be a political Pandora's box by giving the Democratic White House a far more potent say over the Republican agenda.
Rarely has the legislative branch willingly shifted power to the executive branch. With this Senate vote, Congress appears set to cede to the president, at least temporarily, one of its most jealously guarded rights - the power of the purse.
It is odd by any standard of politics that a Congress controlled by one party would give such a powerful political tool to a president representing another. The Republicans appeared to be willing to take that political gamble for several reasons, not least of which is that they expect a Republican to be in the White House in 1997.
They also think they stand to gain more than they would lose by co-opting the president in their efforts to achieve the deficit reduction they believe the American people want.
Mike McCurry, the White House spokesman, said Thursday night that Clinton was ``delighted'' with the Senate action, ``and he looks forward to Congress' completing work on a bill that he can sign so we can use the line-item veto and go to work cutting the budget.''
The president had sought to stay above the fray, but White House aides acknowledged that his statement Monday requesting the strongest possible bill had apparently broken a logjam and weakened Democratic opposition or the risk of a filibuster. Clinton met with some Democratic senators at the White House on Wednesday night to make sure they would be comfortable with the results.
Thursday's debate found Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., in a familiar role, on his feet for hours lecturing his fellow senators. Weeks earlier, the 77-year-old had led the successful floor fight against the balanced-budget amendment, which ended March 2 in a crushing one-vote defeat for the Republicans.
``It would not matter if I spoke for days, the die is cast,'' Byrd said.
A line-item veto is part of the House Republicans' political manifesto, the ``Contract With America.'' But for the Republican majorities in both houses who came to power promising to balance the budget and pay down the federal debt, the legislation is also a concession: that after decades of approving bills laden with pork-barrel projects, Congress does not have the restraint to cut spending on its own.
Under the House version of the legislation, the president could rescind or cancel specific appropriation items within 10 days. He could also strike any items in a tax bill that did not affect more than 100 taxpayers.
The Senate, concerned about the constitutionality of that approach, approved legislation that would break all the provisions in new spending measures into separate bills, which the president could accept or reject individually.
Both versions allow Congress to override the president, but only with a two-thirds majority vote by both houses. And the Senate version includes a sunset provision that gives the president the line-item veto power for only five years.
by CNB