THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 23, 1996 TAG: 9602230460
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
When Congress goes back to work next Monday, it will need both good luck and good management to find the cash needed to prevent a third government shutdown, Rep. Eva M. Clayton said Thursday.
``We resume the session on Feb. 26 and the continuing resolution that is now keeping the government operating expires on Feb. 29. Both and House and the Senate will have to pass a budget or agree on another continuing resolution to meet the government's obligations.
``Two days is short notice, so it'll be risky timing at best,'' said Clayton, a Democrat who represents the 1st District.
Two special contingency resolutions have been passed to keep official Washington in business since the deadline for a new budget passed last summer. The government is operating under the second resolution, which authorizes the Treasury to pay bills without a formal budget authorization.
It is this resolution that expires Feb. 29.
The new appropriations bill should have been ready early in the present session, but when Congress and the White House locked horns on several points, including a balanced budget, the deadline passed, causing the first shutdown. The second shutdown followed when the initial contingency resolution expired and a new resolution had to be passed before the government could open for business again.
Clayton, who held an informal town meeting and re-election rally on Thursday at the Knobbs Creek Recreational Center, said she felt both Republicans and Democrats in Congress are more likely to compromise on issues that previously blocked the federal budget bill.
``I think most members want to resolve this,'' she said.
Clayton also said she is increasingly concerned by mass layoffs in large industries.
``Some 40,000 people have lost their jobs in recent weeks and if this downsizing continues, Congress is going to have to do something to help the jobless.
``It's important that they aren't just cut adrift without any encouragement or opportunities for finding new jobs,'' she said.
``Retaining programs created by Congress may be one solution to increasing unemployment,'' Clayton added.
And on the pressing issues of health legislation, Clayton said ``reform is in the wind'' for Medicare and Medicaid.
Clayton in 1992 became the first female and the first black to be named to the U.S. House in this century. Clayton's only opponent this year is Republican Ted Tyler of Rich Square, who has twice unsuccessfully sought the new 1st District seat.
Tyler is a pharmaceutical salesman who has financed his own campaigns with little visible help from the Republican Party in Raleigh. by CNB