1993: United States: Congress

Despite a short honeymoon and some spirited fighting in 1993, Congress and President Bill Clinton stumbled through a first year together that yielded an impressive list of legislative accomplishments. The Washington Post described the results of the first session of the 103rd Congress as a 'rich but themeless pudding cooked up by a team of quarrelsome cooks, who left the kitchen in a bit of a mess.'

Many of the cooks were new to the kitchen, as more women, minorities, and self-proclaimed 'Washington outsiders' than ever before took their seats in January. There were 110 new House members — a record turnover — and 13 new senators, including Robert Krueger (D) of Texas, appointed as a temporary replacement for Lloyd Bentsen, the new secretary of the Treasury. Among the newly elected senators were Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, the first African-American woman in the Senate; former Representative Barbara Boxer of California and former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein; and Patty Murray, from Washington. All four women were Democrats. Their installation brought the number of women senators to six; they were joined in June by Texas State Treasurer Kay Bailey Hutchison (R), who won a landslide victory in a special election to serve out Bentsen's Senate term. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D, Colorado) became the first American Indian senator in more than 60 years. The 435-member House of Representatives numbered in its ranks 48 women and 59 members of ethnic minorities. At midyear the party breakdown in the Senate was 56 Democrats and 44 Republicans; in the House it was 258 Democrats, 176 Republicans, and one independent.

For the first time since 1980, one party, the Democrats, controlled both White House and Congress. The president got off on the wrong foot with Congress, though, when he proposed in January to eliminate the ban on homosexuals in the military. Then his economic stimulus package was soundly defeated in April. But he came back to win congressional approval in August for his deficit reduction package and in November for the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta). By the end of 1993, Congress had supported Clinton on 88 percent of the House and Senate floor votes, a success rate that came close to former President Dwight Eisenhower's first-year record of 89 percent in 1953 and equaled former President Lyndon Johnson's 88 percent in 1964, according to Congressional Quarterly, a weekly periodical reporting on Congress.

Congress passed and the president signed bills calling for a five-day waiting period for the purchase of handguns, voter registration by mail or at motor-vehicle offices, 12 weeks of unpaid family and medical leave, educational grants to students in exchange for community service, aid to the republics of the former Soviet Union, and the removal of U.S. troops from Somalia by the end of March 1994.

Several other measures passed both chambers, but major differences between the two versions remained to be ironed out. These included campaign-finance reforms and a comprehensive anticrime bill.

Families and Students.

Clinton's first legislative victory was the Family and Medical Leave Act, which became law in February. It permitted some workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period for the birth or adoption of a child, to care for a sick relative, or to deal with their own serious illness. The measure applied to employees who had worked for the same company for at least a year and had compiled at least 1,250 hours of work in a year. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees were exempted. The bill, which had been vetoed twice by President George Bush, passed by a 71-27 vote in the Senate and a 247-152 margin in the House.

Another of Clinton's priorities, creating a national service program for students, who would receive limited financial aid to help pay for college, passed Congress in early September. The $1.5 billion, three-year program was designed to enable about 100,000 young people to perform community service and to receive awards of up to $4,725 a year for one or two years. Students were required to be 17 or older and could perform the community service before, during, or after college. Before Congress's August recess, a Republican filibuster in the Senate had held up the measure.

Nafta Wins.

In September the prospects for Nafta looked bleak. Legislation for implementing the agreement, aimed at expanding the existing barrier-free trading relationship with Canada to include Mexico, faced considerable opposition in the House. But the House passed the measure on November 18 by a comfortable 234-200 margin; it breezed through the Senate on November 20 with a 61-38 showing. The House vote came as a climax to days of high drama; portions of the debate were carried on live television throughout the United States, and lobbying was intense. Clinton and his staff telephoned or met with legislators to offer them concessions on the pact in exchange for their votes. The president owed the bipartisan victory in the House more to Republicans than to members of his own party: Three-fifths of the Democrats were opposed to Nafta, but most Republicans favored it.

Under the agreement, existing trade and investment barriers between the United States and Mexico would be gradually eliminated over the next 15 years. The United States and Canada already had a free-trade agreement that had gone into effect in 1989.

Gun and Crime Control.

The so-called Brady bill, requiring a five-day waiting period for the purchase of handguns, took seven years to be approved by Congress. With the new commanding majority of Democrats in both houses, it finally passed on the session's last day with only three senators in the chamber. Republicans had delayed the bill with five days of filibustering and threats of making Congress return after its Thanksgiving recess. But not wanting to be blamed for sidetracking a bill popular with a public concerned about crime, Republicans finally gave in after Democrats promised future consideration of a GOP-backed bill to modify some of the Brady bill provisions. Clinton signed the bill in a White House ceremony attended by James Brady, for whom the bill was named. Formerly President Ronald Reagan's press secretary, Brady was permanently disabled in a 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan.

The measure required police to check local, state, and national records to determine if a would-be buyer was legally allowed to buy a handgun, it provided money to improve computerized criminal records, and it required that police be notified of multiple handgun purchases.

Sensing a mounting public concern over violent crime and impatience over government efforts to deal with it, the Senate approved spending $22.3 billion over five years for anticrime measures such as new federal prisons, shelters for battered women, more police officers, and programs for prison drug treatment and youth crime prevention. It also voted to ban the manufacture, sale, and possession of 19 powerful assault weapons, called for stiffer minimum penalties for gun-related federal crimes, and sought to expand the list of crimes subject to the federal death penalty. A House anticrime bill was more modest in its proposals. The two versions were sent to a conference committee.

Voter Registration.

Five years in the making, the so-called motor voter bill — aimed at increasing nationwide voter registration — cleared Congress and was signed by the president. Clinton and other supporters estimated that the measure could add some 50 million new voters. Effective in 1995, states are required to develop programs allowing eligible citizens to register when they apply for or renew their driver's license; states must also permit registration by mail and must make forms available at certain public-assistance agencies. Senate Republicans, using various parliamentary maneuvers, had been able to block similar legislation since 1989. But in May the bill's supporters added six Republicans to their ranks, giving them the votes to break a filibuster.

Gays in the Military.

When Clinton was campaigning for the presidency, he promised to lift the ban on homosexuals in the armed forces. But as president he discovered that senior military officers opposed to the move had powerful friends in Congress, including Democratic Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. As a result, Clinton settled for the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue' approach, in which potential recruits would no longer be asked about their sexual orientation but the ban against homosexual conduct, which would include the open avowal of homosexuality, would remain. The defense authorization bill, approved in November, wrote the approach into law but allowed future secretaries of defense to reinstate questioning recruits about homosexuality. The legislation maintained that declarations of homosexuality in the armed forces posed a risk to morale, order, and discipline.

Budget Deficits.

For the first time since the Congressional Budget Act became law in 1974, Congress met its April 15 deadline for passing a yearly budget resolution. On April 1, Congress completed action on the resolution, which sets general outlines for spending. In early August, Congress passed by the narrowest of margins the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which encompassed Clinton's long-term spending plans and tax measures. Over two dramatic days the bill was approved in the House with no votes to spare, 218-216, and in the Senate with Vice President Al Gore casting a yes vote to break a 50-50 tie. No Republicans voted for the bill, and several Democrats voted against it in each house. The act raised some taxes, mostly on upper-income people, and provided for some tax breaks or credits to those with the lowest incomes. Although the resolution reduced the projected yearly deficits, the government was still expected to spend $1 trillion more than it took in through the 1998 fiscal year.

Stimulus Bill Defeated.

In one of Clinton's early legislative defeats, his $16.3 billion economic stimulus package died in April after Democrats failed for the fourth time to cut off a Republican filibuster against it. A major piece of the president's economic plan, it included money for transportation and other public works, summer jobs and social programs, business and technology programs, government-funded jobs, and extended unemployment benefits. The package ran into trouble early in the session when some House Democrats objected to voting for more spending before reducing the deficit. After the package died in the Senate, a separate bill providing $4 billion in extended unemployment benefits passed both chambers and was signed by Clinton. And in July, Congress passed a supplemental appropriations bill that included about $850 million from the original economic stimulus package, including money for summer jobs and small business loans.

Super Collider Killed.

A majority of freshmen House members — many of whom had promised to cut the federal deficit — helped terminate the Superconducting Super Collider, a giant subatomic particle accelerator that was being built in Texas. Of the 113 first-term members voting, 81 joined opponents of the project in complicated procedural votes in mid-October that went heavily against the recommendation of the normally decisive Appropriations Committee. Opponents criticized the limited focus and the cost overruns of the project, which started out with an estimated price tag of $4.4 billion in 1987 and was later estimated to cost $8.25 billion or more.

Foreign Affairs.

Congress endorsed Clinton's decision to scale back the role of U.S. military forces in Somalia, requiring that they leave by March 31, 1994. The action came in mid-October, only a week after pressure from Congress and the public forced the president to cut back the mission. The administration changed its policy after 18 soldiers were killed and dozens wounded in early October in a battle with forces of Somali warlord General Muhammad Farrah Aideed.

Signaling the end of the cold war, Congress passed a $2.5 billion foreign aid package for former Soviet republics. The move came in late September, after Russian President Boris Yeltsin disbanded the Russian Parliament but before the Russian military's October 4 armed assault on his opponents occupying the Parliament building. The measure received bipartisan support, passing both chambers by wide margins.

The aid to the republics of the former Soviet Union was part of a larger $12.5 foreign aid bill that provided $3 billion for Israel and $2.1 billion for Egypt — the largest single-country aid recipients — and $25 million for the Palestinians. The Senate sidestepped debating the role of the United States in the bloody conflict in Bosnia-Hercegovina when Minority Leader Bob Dole (R, Kansas) withdrew an amendment calling for congressional approval of any deployment of U.S. forces to Bosnia. In return, he won a pledge that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would hold hearings on the Bosnian crisis.

Senators Accused.

Roundly criticized for its handling of sexual harassment charges against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991, the Senate, trying to repair its image, continued an investigation of allegations of sexual misconduct made against Senator Bob Packwood (R, Oregon). In December 1992 the Senate Ethics Committee had begun investigating charges that Packwood, a senator since 1969, had made unwanted physical advances to at least 23 women, including staff members, lobbyists, and interns.

In October 1993, Packwood's personal diaries became an issue after he used them to support his version of events and allowed the committee to review part of them. The committee counsel found passages indicating other possible misconduct involving job offers for his estranged wife from lobbyists and associates. At that point Packwood refused to turn over other parts of the diaries. But on November 2 the Senate subpoenaed 3,000 pages of Packwood's diaries, marking the first time it had subpoenaed records from a member under inquiry. The vote was 94-6.

Packwood was said to be close to resigning on November 19 but changed his mind after the Justice Department also subpoenaed the diaries to prevent their possible destruction. The senator called the request for the diaries an invasion of privacy and an unreasonable search and seizure.

Two other senators who found themselves in legal trouble were Hutchison of Texas and David Durenberger, a Minnesota Republican. A Texas grand jury indicted Hutchison on charges of using her office as state treasurer to further her successful campaign in the spring for senator. Hutchison said the charges were politically motivated. Durenberger was indicted April 2 on two felony counts of submitting false expense claims to the Senate. Durenberger, who pleaded innocent, won the right to have his trial moved from Washington, DC, to Minnesota.

House Money Scandals.

Jack Russ, the House sergeant-at-arms from 1983 to 1992, was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to embezzlement and fraud charges in connection with the 1991 House bank scandal that helped to bring about the election losses of a score of members in 1992. Russ, who supervised the now-defunct House bank, had cashed 17 checks totaling $75,300 without having enough deposits in his account to cover them. He also pleaded guilty to defrauding investors in a business he operated. The Justice Department continued to investigate a small number of representatives who might have been tainted by the House bank scandal.

In the continuing House post office scandal, former Postmaster Robert Rota pleaded guilty in July to helping House members illegally convert taxpayer-financed stamps and stamp vouchers to cash. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D, Illinois) and former Representative Joe Kolter (D, Pennsylvania) were implicated in federal court documents. The two were identified only as Congressman A and Congressman B, but details about their alleged illegal activities matched stamp purchases attributed to them in public spending reports. Both denied any wrongdoing. Although several other House members allegedly took part in the scheme that prosecutors said began in 1978, no others were named.

Streamlining Congress.

Senate and House committees unveiled proposals late in the year to put the federal budget on a two-year cycle, replacing the yearly budget process, and make other changes to both improve the efficiency of and public attitudes toward Congress. Both chambers' proposals were designed to cut down on the number of committees and subcommittees on which members had to serve. Also proposed were methods by which laws on civil rights, labor, occupational safety and health, and the environment would be automatically applied to Congress, which normally had been exempt. The Senate committee proposed that the Senate Ethics Committee be divided into two units — one to investigate charges of wrongdoing and the other to sit in judgment on senators. The proposals were to be considered in the second session, beginning in January 1994.

Campaign Finance.

The House and Senate approved vastly different bills to restrict special-interest money and impose voluntary spending limits along with limited public funding of congressional campaigns. The bills were sent to a conference committee. The House bill envisioned public funding of House campaigns for those complying with federal spending limits and restricted the amount candidates could receive from both political action committees and individuals. The Senate version included a steep new tax on candidates rejecting the spending limits and banned all contributions from political action committees.

Hatch Act Revision.

A bill passed by Congress in late September provided for limited political involvement by off-duty federal workers and postal employees but barred political activities while they were on the job. The measure brought to a close a nearly two-year effort by lawmakers to revise the 1939 Hatch Act, which had forbidden almost all political activities by federal employees.

Abortion Issues.

Two days after his inauguration, Clinton issued an executive order lifting the ban on fetal tissue research instituted by President Bush, who saw it as an abortion issue. Congress codified Clinton's action by including termination of the ban in the appropriations bill for the National Institutes of Health. Congressional attempts to lift the ban in 1992 had failed when Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, an opponent of most types of abortion, successfully led an end-of-the-session filibuster.

Continuing violence at abortion clinics, including the fatal shooting of a doctor at a Florida clinic, prompted Congress to pass bills outlawing the obstruction of abortion clinic entrances or using force or threats against clinic workers or women seeking abortions. Both chambers passed similar bills, which were sent to a conference committee.

Voteless Territories.

The District of Columbia and the four territories with delegates in the House of Representatives — Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands — were granted a limited right to vote on the House floor. The district and territory delegates, all Democrats, previously had the right to vote at committee meetings; the House extended that right to preliminary floor votes, but only if the delegates' votes did not affect the final outcome of a given bill. Republicans were unanimously opposed.