THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 14, 1995 TAG: 9511140103
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
They looked silly, and they knew it. They said so again and again.
``The political point we all make is that we're all losers,'' said Sen. John Breaux, a Louisiana Democrat.
``It must look like a spectacle to the average American,'' observed House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the Georgia Republican. ``It's very sad and very unnecessary.''
``It is stupid. It is unnecessary,'' said Alice Rivlin, the Clinton administration's budget chief.
At both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, the despair was almost palpable Monday as the Republican Congress and the Democratic president prepared to run the ship of state aground.
No one wanted to shut the government down, they insisted. But no one seemed to know how to stop it. And everyone wondered if the voters would understand.
The people who are getting trampled are the federal employees who are laboring out there every day . . .'' said Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va. ``I would urgeboth sides to put aside their egos, forget about their macho images.''
Davis, who represents part of Northern Virginia, is among the congressmen whose constituents will feel the pain of any protracted government shutdown. More than 54,000 federal workers live in his district; about one-third of them would be furloughed in the budget impasse.
More than 220,000 federal employees live in Virginia's 10 other congressional districts. And those are just the civilians; about 100,000 more are in the military.
Davis spoke shortly after noon, as the House conducted ``morning business.'' The daily ritual permits any member to take a minute to two to address the House on any subject he desires.
As usual, the chamber was almost empty. Fewer than 10 of his colleagues were on the floor as Davis spoke, and only a few dozen citizens were in the gallery. But C-Span, the cable network, beamed it all nationwide.
The shutdown threat and the ``continuing resolution'' that could keep the government running overshadowed all, but Congress had other business to transact on Monday.
Republicans and Democrats in the House put aside partisanship to pass 11 bills - all without a hint of controversy.
Eight of the measures involved extending deadlines for the construction of hydroelectric projects around the country. Another blocked the transfer of land in a national forest in California that had been earmarked for a landfill.
All 11 bills were approved by voice vote, with only about a half-dozen members on the floor.
In the Senate, there were several hours of sometimes spirited debate on the budget - not concerning the impasse that threatened a government shutdown but over the Republicans' long-term plan to balance the government's books in seven years.
Both the House and Senate already have passed budget-balancing plans. But differences between the chambers remain, and a conference committee with members from each will have to resolve them. Senate Democrats wanted the body to instruct their conferees to hold firm against House-approved cuts in Medicare and a House plan to end federal regulation of nursing homes.
Toward the end of the afternoon, Sen. Pete Domenici, the New Mexico Republican who heads the Senate Budget Committee, gave in on most of what the Democrats sought. ``This is nonbinding,'' he observed.
In his office at midafternoon, Rep. Norman Sisisky had an idea he said would end the budget deadlock in a matter of hours.
The Virginia Democrat recalled that weeks ago he signed on as a co-sponsor for a bill that would cut off the pay of senators and congressmen in the event of any government shutdown.
If Gingrich would just bring that one to the floor, Sisisky said, ``we'd settle this in a hurry.''
The long day began in the Senate with an appeal for help from a higher authority.
``Guide us to express our convictions with courage, but also with an openness to others,'' prayed Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie, the Senate chaplain, as the upper house convened. ``We ask you to bless the negotiations of this day. . .
But by nightfall, there had been no negotiations, there was no sign of openness and the contest of wills continued unabated.
Republicans complained that President Clinton wouldn't even talk to them.
A suggestion by Domenici that the GOP leadership would back away from increases in Medicare premiums - increases Clinton had termed unacceptable - was rebuffed by White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry.
``It's an interesting idea, but it has nothing to do with resolving the current crisis,'' McCurry said. He promised that even without the Medicare increases, Clinton would veto the Republicans' continuing resolution because it would force some agencies to operate on 60 percent of their normal budget while debate continues over their long-term funding.
So the Republicans went ahead and passed their continuing resolution - including the higher Medicare premiums. And Clinton, as promised, vetoed it.
``We'll be available if the president gives any indication he doesn't want to shut down the government,'' said Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan. ILLUSTRATION: FOR JOB UPDATES
[For a copy of the INFOLINE box, see microfilm.]
KEYWORDS: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BUDGET by CNB