ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 1996 TAG: 9610010074
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
NOTE: Below
The catchall bill, approved 84-15 by the Senate in early evening, contains $6.5 billion in extra money that Clinton demanded for education, drug-fighting and other programs and pushes overall spending nearly as high as it was before Republicans captured Congress two years ago.
It also drops GOP-written immigration provisions the White House argued were too severe, such as one barring federally paid AIDS care for illegal immigrants.
Clinton called the omnibus bill ``good for America,'' because it ensures substantial amounts of money for education and training, environmental protection and law enforcement.
``It moves us further toward our goal of a balanced budget while protecting our values and priorities - educating our children, providing a clean environment, fighting crime, protecting our families from drugs, and combating terrorism,'' he said.
He also said, however, that he was disappointed that the bill did not include one of his priorities, a ban on physician ``gag rules'' that would have given doctors in managed-care programs the freedom to inform their patients of a wider range of medical treatment options.
Forty-six Democrats and 38 Republicans voted for the legislation, including Sens. Charles Robb, D-Va., and John Warner, R-Va. One Democrat and 14 Republicans opposed it.
The House approved the measure Saturday night, 370-37, and with a pre-election adjournment approaching, most of its members immediately left Washington.
While bent on speeding home for their re-election races, senators saw their hopes of adjourning for the year immediately dimming because of a dispute over a separate bill authorizing air traffic systems.
Democrats complained that bill contained language to help Federal Express prevent its truck drivers from unionizing. They used parliamentary tactics to delay a vote until at least Thursday, giving them time to debate the Federal Express language.
Also percolating was a parks bill making dozens of land exchanges, boundary changes and new designations of memorials and historic sites. Behind-the-scenes battles over adding provisions persisted. The House approved it Saturday, 404-4.
But having won GOP concessions on spending and immigration - and a government shutdown looming if the bill was not approved by midnight Monday - Democrats decided ``that we ought to quit while we're ahead,'' said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.
``Democrats recognize we won a great deal in here in terms of the president's priorities and their priorities, and it's important to get this done and get back to their constituents,'' White House chief of staff Leon Panetta said after lunching with Senate Democrats.
Republicans said the two-year Congress had stayed the budget-cutting course the GOP had promised, even though the White House won extra spending in round-the-clock talks that ended at dawn Saturday.
``Along the way, did we have to make some compromises to get our work product done? Yes. But we got it done,'' said Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.
The spending and immigration measures were combined into a bill that with its explanatory report totaled 3,000 pages.It will finance nine Cabinet-level departments - Commerce, Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Interior, Justice, Labor, State and Treasury - plus other lower-level agencies. It contained $244 billion for defense and $145 billion for annually approved domestic programs.
Republicans used the legislation to restore spending for programs they had tried to cut since last year, including $28.8 billion for the Department of Education.
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