THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 20, 1994 TAG: 9408200245
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID HESS AND ANGIE CANNON, KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Members of the House appeared near final agreement on key elements of a compromise crime bill Friday after President Clinton agreed with Republicans to cut spending in the bill by 10 percent.
House leaders predicted details of the agreement would be hammered out in a conference meeting with members of the Senate this morning and said a House vote on a compromise bill could come as early as this afternoon.
At his Friday afternoon news conference, Clinton said he supports the spending cuts as well as tougher provisions to require sexual predators released from prison to report to the police and to notify their communities of their presence. Republicans had been pushing for both.
But the president firmly refused to strip a ban on 19 types of assault weapons from the bill for a separate vote. Opponents of the ban want to make it a separate bill, which would make it easier to kill in the Senate.
Clinton defended the compromise, saying the bill still maintains ``its fundamental integrity'' and ``doesn't just gut the prevention programs.''
The future of Clinton's plan for universal health coverage seemed far less certain Friday, as Senate moderates unveiled a deficit-conscious plan that would expand coverage gradually and cautiously. The compromise - or something close to it - is widely seen as the last, best chance to pass any bill this year.
Addressing the crime bill compromise, Clinton said the 10 percent cut would ensure that the bill was paid for by savings from reductions in government employees.
``The principles of the bill are intact,'' he said. ``It's the biggest increase in police in the history of the country. It's the toughest increase in punishment in the history of the country. It's the biggest increase in prevention programs in the history of the country.''
Clinton again urged Congress to pass the measure swiftly, calling it a ``grass-roots, mainstream, nonpartisan issue.''
``Innocent Americans should not have to fear being preyed upon as so many do today,'' Clinton said. ``Innocent children should not have to fear losing their childhoods, as so many do today.''
Members of the House had been fighting over proposed spending and other elements of the bill for several days. The apparent breakthrough came in a long afternoon of wheeling and dealing between Republicans and Democrats.
The tentative agreement was announced by Reps. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Michael Castle, R-Del.
``I think we have arrived at a critical point here where it is now possible to say that we are going to get a bill,'' Castle said.
The final details of the compromise were still being discussed Friday evening. But negotiators were uniformly upbeat about prospects for resolving the eight-day stalemate. MEMO: Related article about the crime bill as critiqued by local police chiefs
is on page A16.
KEYWORDS: CRIME BILL by CNB