THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 18, 1994 TAG: 9408180558
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
President Clinton's last-minute effort to save the $30 billion crime bill appeared to be paying off Wednesday as he picked up the support of three House members, with indications that others could be won over by modest changes the Democrats are offering.
The announced vote switches came from members of the Congressional Black Caucus - Reps. John Lewis, D-Ga., Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y., and Cleo Fields, D-La. - who had helped block the crime bill last week because they oppose its expansion of the death penalty, which they contend has been applied in a racially discriminatory way.
Along with other Black Caucus members, Rangel and Lewis met with Clinton at the White House on Wednesday, as Fields had done individually the day before.
``He was listening and selling his presidency, the party and the fact that we will not get a better bill than this,'' Rangel said later. ``I don't think anyone challenges that.''
Rep. Robert C. Scott, who represents parts of Portsmouth, Norfolk and the Peninsula, was among the seven caucus members who met with Clinton, but he refused to support the bill afterward.
Democratic sources indicated that other lawmakers have changed their positions on the procedural vote that blocked the bill last Thursday, but they would not identify them. Vote counts still left Clinton short of the minimum of eight votes necessary to turn around a 225 to 210 vote and bring the anti-crime legislation to a final House vote. One House Democrat set 15 vote switches as a goal. by CNB