THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, April 19, 1996                 TAG: 9604190544
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Medium:   69 lines

HOUSE IGNORES CRITICS, ADOPTS ANTI-TERRORISM BILL, 293-133 THE BILL, WHICH LIMITS APPEALS, NEXT GOES TO CLINTON, WHO HAS SAID HE WILL SIGN IT.

Brushing aside complaints of civil libertarians, the House gave final congressional approval Thursday to a bill that combats foreign terrorism and sharply limits prisoners' appeals.

The bill, adopted on a 293-133 vote, goes to President Clinton, who has said he will sign it.

Enacted on the eve of the one-year observance of the deadly bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, the bill had been hung up for months over objections by the National Rifle Association and civilian militias that feared it would be used to curtail their rights to own firearms and protest against the government.

The billion-dollar measure finally cleared Congress after House and Senate negotiators agreed to strip most of the bill's provisions that bolstered federal authorities' power to counter domestic terrorism.

Clinton complained about that, but finally agreed to sign the bill because of other provisions that beef up the federal government's power to detect and punish foreign-backed terrorism.

Critics said the bill failed by not giving the FBI broader wiretapping authority, but supporters said the FBI already had adequate powers.

The bill cracks down hard on foreign-born and foreign-inspired terrorist activities.

Among the bill's major provisions:

New powers to speed the deportation of suspected terrorists and to bar fund-raising in this country by organizations deemed to be terrorist by the State Department.

Higher penalties for terrorist acts.

A requirement that tiny identification markers called ``taggants'' be placed in plastic explosives so that authorities can trace their origin and transfers.

A ban on the export of American weapons unless the president is assured that the recipient nations are cooperating with U.S. anti-terrorism efforts.

The size of the voting margin belied the concern of many members who felt the bill went too far in curbing the power of federal judges to review state-court sentences in criminal cases for constitutional error.

The issue of prolonged and repeated appeals - particularly by death-row inmates - has galled many lawmakers who have tried to restrict the number of so-called habeas corpus filings and the length of time it takes to process them.

In this bill, they succeeded after more than 15 years of trying.

The measure would direct federal judges, for the first time in more than 100 years, to defer to the judgment of state judges as to whether a prisoner's constitutional rights had been violated by state authorities, except in certain narrowly defined circumstances. ILLUSTRATION: HOW THEY VOTED

A ``yes'' vote is a vote for the bill.

Herbert H. Bateman, R-Va. Yes

Owen B. Pickett, D-Va. Yes

Robert C. Scott, D-Va. No

Norman Sisisky, D-Va. Yes

Eva Clayton, D-N.C. No

Walter Jones Jr., R-N.C. No

KEYWORDS: ANTI-TERRORISM BILL by CNB