
DATE: Friday, October 31, 1997              TAG: 9710310630

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A14  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ALAN FRAM, ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   98 lines

SENATE VOTES TO OVERTURN CLINTON VETOES OF PROJECTS

In the first congressional attempt to block President Clinton's use of the line-item veto, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to overturn his elimination of 38 military construction projects, including three in and around Hampton Roads.

The 69-30 vote exceeded the two-thirds majority the Senate would ultimately need to roll back Clinton's line-item vetoes. Forty-two Republicans and 27 Democrats voted to revive the vetoed projects, while 12 Republicans and 18 Democrats backed Clinton.

The outcome is less certain in the House, where Republican leaders have been reluctant to be viewed as opposing a power they just granted the president. Top House aides said there were no plans to even consider the measure before adjournment next month, though it could come up next year.

But in the Senate, advocates of blocking Clinton's vetoes drew strength from two major sources. Thirty-eight of the 48 senators from the 24 states where military construction were vetoed voted to preserve the projects. Also voting to restore the vetoed items were 25 of the 28 members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which wrote the spending bill that Clinton dissected.

Clinton has stirred up a hornet's nest in Congress by casting 63 line-item vetoes against six bills, mostly affecting defense projects. The power, which he received only this year, allows the president to kill individual items in bills that otherwise become law.

``We don't live under a king in this country,'' said Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., who has long opposed granting the line-item veto power to the president and has introduced legislation to revoke it. ``And I don't propose to ever live under a king.''

Also arguing to overturn Clinton's line-item vetoes were senators who favored the power but represent states against which he used it. The president's vetoes of 38 military construction projects, cast on Oct. 6, affected facilities in 24 states and would save $287 million.

Clinton canceled more than $27 million worth of military construction projects in and around Hampton Roads, including:

$19.9 million for pier refurbishment at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth.

$4 million for an air operations building at Norfolk Naval Air Station.

$3.3 million for a Tomahawk missile magazine at Yorktown Naval Weapons Station.

``I do think the president is wrong,' said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, in whose state Clinton killed three construction projects. ``I think the president did not have his facts straight.''

Administration officials have conceded that some of the military construction projects that were vetoed were based on erroneous information provided by the Pentagon.

While refusing to tell lawmakers how many were mistakenly erased, the officials have acknowledged that they should not have stricken an Army National Guard facility in Rapid City, S.D., home state of Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle.

One of the few senators to speak in favor of retaining Clinton's vetoes was Sen. Dale Bumpers, D-Ark., another foe of the power.

``The more pain we inflict'' on senators by canceling their home-state projects, the more likely we are to repeal'' the power, he said.

Thursday's Senate vote begins a complex process in which Congress would send Clinton a bill reviving the projects he used the line-item veto to kill. Should he veto that measure - which he has said he would do - the House and Senate would then have to produce two-thirds majorities to prevail.

Lawmakers are not expected to try overturning too many of Clinton's other line-item vetoes because of concerns that they might be viewed as defenders of unneeded pork-barrel projects or as hypocritically opposing a law most of them voted for last year.

The line-item veto, which became law in 1996, was a featured part of the ``Contract With America'' campaign agenda that Republicans trumpeted during the 1994 campaign when they captured control of Congress. Proponents said it would help control unneeded federal spending, while opponents said it would give the president too much power and have minimal effect on a $1.6 trillion a year federal budget.

Three lawsuits have been filed in an effort to have the line-item veto declared unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling by next summer. MEMO: The Virginian-Pilot staff contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Graphics

LOCAL MILITARY CUTS

$19.9 million for pier refurbishment at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in

Portsmouth.

$4 million for air operations building at Norfolk Naval Air

Station.

$3.3 million for Tomahawk missile magazine at Yorktown Naval

Weapons Station.

HOW THEY VOTED

A ``yes'' vote is to overturn Clinton's vetoes.

John W. Warner, R-Va. Yes

Charles S. Robb, D-Va. No

Jesse A. Helms, R-N.C. Yes