1997: United States: Congress

The 105th Congress skillfully orchestrated a five-year bipartisan balanced budget agreement by mid-1997, but it seemed to have forgotten the music during the last three months of the 1997 session, returning to a partisan dissonance that drowned out any chance of harmony on other important issues. When the final curtain came down in mid-November, nothing came close to matching Congress's major action on the budget and tax package, although lawmakers did approve bills speeding up adoptions of children in foster care, overhauling Amtrak, authorizing a rescue plan for the fiscally ailing District of Columbia, restoring some welfare benefits to illegal immigrants, and expediting approval of new drugs. Even when President Bill Clinton and the Republicans were playing from the same score, such as on the president's bid to renew his 'fast-track' authority to negotiate trade deals, House Democrats rebelled, leading Clinton to withdraw his proposal.

The Republican-led 105th Congress had started out in a conciliatory mood. Congressional leaders worked with Clinton to ensure ratification of a global treaty to ban chemical weapons and then patiently chipped away the opposition to the five-year agreement to balance the federal budget and cut taxes. When the budget and tax package passed both houses of Congress, Clinton heralded it as a 'monument to the efforts that people can make when they put aside partisan differences and work together for the common good.' But when Congress returned from its August recess, Republicans and Democrats seemed to have lost interest in cooperating. As a result, Congress faced a crowded agenda for 1998.

Budget, Taxes, Medicare.

The landmark legislation to balance the budget by 2002 that Congress approved and the president signed included $115 billion in savings from Medicare and a $24 billion program to provide health insurance for millions of children, by increasing the federal cigarette tax 15 cents a pack over five years. The legislation also authorized a tax credit of up to $500 per child by 1999, cut capital gains and estate taxes, and included tax credits to offset certain college costs.

As part of the package, Congress made several changes in the ailing federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled. It provided new options for health-care insurance, expanded coverage of preventive services, and created incentives for managed care plans to serve rural areas. The preventive benefits included screening for colorectal, prostate, cervical, and breast cancer and diabetes education and monitoring equipment. Among other changes, the measure capped what hospitals could charge Medicare beneficiaries for outpatient services.

Chemical Weapons.

In April the Senate ratified an international treaty banning the development, production, sale, use, or stockpiling of chemical weapons. Passage of the measure represented an important victory for President Clinton, who faced opposition from conservative Republicans. But it came at a price — concessions to Republicans on several related issues. The Clinton administration agreed to reduce the size and number of foreign policy agencies, but congressional consideration of the reorganization plan got sidetracked in the final days by other political impasses. Supporters of the reorganization plan vowed to get it passed in 1998.

Immigration.

Congress approved measures intended to restore some welfare benefits to illegal immigrants already in the United States but close loopholes for newcomers, avert deportation for refugees from Central America and elsewhere, and allow some illegal immigrants to stay in the United States while applying for permanent resident visas, provided they pay a $1,000 fine. Another measure gave the Immigration and Naturalization Service money to overhaul its citizenship process; the process came under fire in 1996 when some 180,000 immigrants became citizens without proper criminal background checks.

Abortion.

Congress attempted in 1997 to outlaw a controversial procedure, technically known as intact dilation and extraction, sometimes used to terminate late-term pregnancies. The House, by a majority of more than two-thirds, banned the procedure, sometimes called partial-birth abortion, and a similar ban passed the Senate just three votes shy of a two-thirds margin. President Clinton vetoed the measure in October, noting that it did not allow an exception for women whose health would be threatened without the procedure. The bill did, however, allow for exceptions in cases where the mother's life was endangered.

Adoption.

It became easier to remove children from abusive families and allow them to be adopted, under legislation approved by Congress shortly before it recessed for the year. The measure stressed the child's health and safety over reuniting the child with the biological parents, reversing the previous approach, which held greater risk of reuniting children with abusive parents. Under the new law, states could seek adoption of a child after one year of foster care, rather than the previous 18 months. Proceedings to terminate parental rights would start after a child was in foster care for 15 of the previous 22 months — sooner if there is evidence of physical or sexual abuse, torture, abandonment, or action that caused the death of a child's sibling. The legislation also provided states with cash incentives to increase adoptions, allowing $4,000 for each child adopted above the previous year's level and $6,000 for each newly adopted child who was older or had physical or emotional disabilities.

FDA.

Congress passed, and the president signed, legislation aimed at modernizing the Food and Drug Administration and expediting the process for approval of prescription drugs. The legislation also speeded up approval of experimental drugs used in life-threatening diseases and provided incentives for drug companies to develop and test medicine for children.

IRS.

The House, voting 426 to 4, overwhelmingly approved the first significant overhaul of the Internal Revenue Service in decades. The legislation would create an independent oversight board made up largely of private citizens, switch the burden of proof from the taxpayer to the IRS during tax court proceedings, and make it easier for taxpayers to sue the IRS for negligence and recover legal fees in cases where the IRS wrongfully demanded payment. The Senate was expected to act on the measure in 1998. House passage of the bill was prompted by Senate Finance Committee hearings in September that revealed alleged abuses by the IRS in its treatment of ordinary taxpayers.

Congressional Pay Raise.

Congress gave itself a pay raise for the first time in five years. The 2.3 percent cost-of-living increase added up to more than $3,000 and brought congressional salaries to $136,673.

Gingrich Reprimand.

Newt Gingrich became the first sitting speaker to be sanctioned for ethics violations. In January the House reprimanded the Georgia Republican for using tax-exempt organizations for political purposes and misleading the House ethics committee during its inquiry, and fined him $300,000. Gingrich maintained he had made an unwitting mistake and blamed his attorney for providing the committee with incorrect information.

Trade.

Facing tough opposition from House Democrats, President Clinton shelved his proposal for extending fast-track trade negotiating authority, under which Congress could only pass or reject but not amend trade agreements. House Democrats opposing the measure sided with organized labor, environmentalists, consumer safety groups, and civil rights organizations, contending that the agreement would hurt workers and the environment. The Senate favored passage of the bill, which would have extended the authority all presidents since Gerald Ford had had in negotiating trade agreements.

Campaign Finance.

Many Democrats and Republicans agreed that something needed to be done about campaign financing but they could not agree on what it was. Senate Republicans blocked a measure to ban so-called soft money, unregulated money that national parties raise for party-building efforts but that often gets spent on campaign activities. Democrats blocked a GOP effort to require labor unions to get approval from members before using dues for political purposes. Senate Republicans, faced with Democratic delays on other legislation, did agree to permit a vote by March 1998 on the soft money ban.

Tobacco Settlement.

A proposed $368.5 billion legal settlement between the tobacco industry and state attorneys general and class-action plaintiffs, agreed on in June, came under fire in Congress from both opponents and supporters of tobacco. As a result, any legislation enacting the settlement was left for the second session. The June agreement called for a public antismoking campaign, targeted especially at youth, restrictions on tobacco sales and advertising, stronger warning labels on cigarette packs, and FDA regulation of the tobacco industry. The $368.5 billion, collected from tobacco companies over 25 years, would be used to fund antismoking advertising, provide health care for uninsured children, compensate states and plaintiffs for the past costs of smoking-related illnesses, and provide punitive damages for past offenses. Compensatory and punitive damages would be capped, and the money expended by tobacco companies would be tax deductible, thus in effect partly tax subsidized.

Transportation.

Congress agreed to a six-month extension of the current federal transportation law, after efforts to pass a new multiyear package costing more than $100 billion stalled in early November. The breakdown came when Democrats and a few Republicans blocked Republican leaders from considering the measure — known as the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, or ISTEA — until the GOP would allow a vote on campaign finance legislation.

Congress did, however, pass legislation to overhaul the way Amtrak is run. The compromise measure provided continued operating support for Amtrak and $2.3 billion in subsidies for capital improvements to help bail out the financially troubled national passenger rail system. The measure removed some Amtrak labor protections, set a $200 million limit on legal liability for each crash, and required the president to name a new Amtrak board of directors in consultation with Congress. Among other provisions, the new legislation suspended the absolute prohibition against contracts for outside work that would result in layoffs and removed absolute guarantees of up to six years' continued pay for workers laid off because of route eliminations, with both of these issues now subject to collective bargaining.

Public Housing.

The House and Senate both passed bills aimed at revamping public housing and giving local authorities more control over regulations, but the two bodies differed over how to deal with the 1937 law that established public housing. The House version would repeal the law, while the Senate's would merely amend it. In addition, the Senate bill would maintain a limit (30 percent of income) on the rent public housing residents would pay, while the House's would allow them to choose a flat-rate rent.

Education.

Several education measures failed to make the grade during the first session. In early November the House defeated legislation that would have enabled low-income families to use federal funds to send their children to private schools. And on the same day, the Senate blocked for the second time a bill that would allow parents to establish tax-free saving accounts of up to $2,500 per child to defray education-related expenses, including private schooling, tutoring, computers, and special needs. The measure had passed in the House.

Foreign and Defense Policy.

Carefully negotiated plans to pay overdue U.S. dues to the United Nations and provide new credit for the International Monetary Fund died in the session's final hours when they became entangled in a domestic battle over abortion. The White House vowed to take up the matter again in 1998.

Juvenile Crime.

The House passed legislation aimed at cracking down on youth gangs and violent juvenile offenders, including inducements for states to try violent juvenile offenders as adults. A similar bill was slated for action in the Senate in 1998.

1996: United States: Congress

The freshman class of the Republican-controlled 104th Congress that entered Washington in January 1995 like a corps of revolutionaries bent on radically altering federal government adjourned in October 1996 as a more realistic group, better versed in the art of compromise. In fact, the second session of the 104th Congress, in 1996, compiled a list of solid achievements, after a first session that had produced strident political rhetoric but not a great deal of concrete results.

Republicans appeared chastened by the contentious partisan battles that culminated in two shutdowns of the federal government (the second ending in early January 1996) before a budget for the 1996 fiscal year (ending September 30, 1996) could finally be worked out. The budget that was ultimately adopted involved substantial Republican concessions. Once Republican leaders decided on compromise, Congress was also able to enact landmark legislation that overhauled the nation's welfare system, diminished agricultural reliance on federal subsidies, and rewrote telecommunications law. Other results included measures that guaranteed most workers health insurance in the event of changing or losing jobs, raised the minimum wage, curbed illegal immigration, established new environmental standards, modernized the booming securities and mutual fund industries, and gave the president the so-called line-item veto.

President Bill Clinton and congressional Democrats, after initially struggling with their new minority party status, dealt more effectively with Republican initiatives in 1996, though not without making important concessions of their own. In addition to his budget battle victories, the president made good on his promise to 'end welfare as we know it' when he signed a welfare reform measure after vetoing two earlier versions of the bill; however, the version he finally signed still contained provisions he disliked. Congress passed and Clinton signed a health insurance bill — one that was much smaller in scope than the president's failed 1994 initiative. Passage of an increase in the minimum wage gave Democrats a key victory.

Congress also passed bills banning so-called partial-birth abortions and limiting the liability of manufacturers of faulty products. However, both bills met with vetoes, which Congress failed to override. Other measures stalled in Congress, including congressional term limits, changes in campaign finance laws, a balanced-budget amendment, and reauthorization of the Superfund program for hazardous-waste cleanup financed by industry-paid taxes.

Despite its successes the 104th Congress remained distinctly partisan, and many members complained about an erosion of comity, a perception that apparently contributed to the unusually large number of retirements. Republicans attacked President Clinton and his administration in hearings dealing with everything from White House handling of FBI background files and travel-office firings to the Clintons' involvement in the failed Whitewater project. Democrats retaliated with ethics probes of House Speaker Newt Gingrich's use of tax-exempt organizations to finance a college course he taught, as well as other activities. Polarization of the parties led to the growing influence of a small group of Republican moderates and Democratic conservatives, who became brokers of legislative compromise.

Welfare Reform.

In August, President Clinton signed into law historic legislation that swept away 60 years of federal welfare policy. The measure terminated the federal government's guarantee of cash assistance to eligible low-income mothers and children — known as Aid to Families With Dependent Children — and turned welfare programs over to the states. The law also required heads of households receiving welfare benefits (with exceptions for those who could not find child care for preschool children) to get work within two years, generally limited lifetime benefits to five years, cut benefits to legal immigrants not yet U.S. citizens, and stipulated that unmarried teenage parents receiving welfare must live with an adult and stay in school. Under the bill states were to run their own welfare programs, receiving a limited amount of federal funds annually. The legislation also created a comprehensive child-support collection system and provided child-care funding for working welfare parents.

The new legislation was expected to save about $54 billion over six years, almost half coming from reductions in the food stamp program. The decision whether to continue Medicaid and cash payments to poor immigrants would rest with the states.

Telecommunications.

The telecommunications bill, signed into law in February, represented one of the biggest changes in the government's role in communications since 1934. Aimed at creating a giant marketplace for telecommunications services, the measure removed competitive barriers between local telephone companies and long-distance companies and cable companies. The bill also deregulated most cable prices within a period of three and a half years and required manufacturers to include 'V-chips' in television sets with 13-inch or larger screens. (The 'V-chip' allows parents to block programming they consider inappropriate for their children.)

Health Insurance.

A bill signed into law in August made it easier for workers to carry their health care insurance from job to job and more difficult for insurance companies to deny coverage to those with existing health problems. The measure also provided for setting up a pilot program for tax-free Medical Savings Accounts, for defraying medical expenses. Among other provisions, the bill increased the health-insurance tax deduction for self-employed workers from 30 percent to 80 percent by 2006, made long-term-care insurance and expenses deductible like other health-related costs, and allowed terminally ill patients to draw on life insurance benefits. A provision that would have required equivalent coverage for mental and physical disorders was dropped, as was a proposed limitation on damage awards in medical malpractice suits.

Farm Bill.

The farm bill passed in March and signed into law in April gave farmers more flexibility in planting while still receiving federal subsidies. The measure, called the Freedom to Farm program, replaced the decades-old commodity subsidy programs that paid farmers when market prices fell and they planted the same crops year after year. The new program offered farmers fixed but declining payments regardless of their planting decisions or market prices. The lawmakers aimed at increasing production for expanding markets and boosting both U.S. exports and feed grain supplies for livestock producers. Under the measure dairy price supports would be phased out over four years, while peanut and sugar price-support programs would be scaled back. The bill authorized some $47 billion over seven years for core farm programs and an additional $20 billion or more for conservation and insurance programs.

Minimum Wage.

For the first time in five years Congress voted to raise the minimum wage. The legislation, passed in early August and signed by the president later that month, increased the minimum wage from $4.25 to $4.75 an hour starting in October and to $5.15 an hour in September 1997.

Although largely a Democratic initiative, the measure included a Republican-generated package of business tax cuts, amounting to about $10 billion over five years. The tax cuts included provisions for expanding Individual Retirement Accounts to allow nonworking spouses to save up to $2,000 a year; extending the Generalized System of Preferences, permitting products from developing countries to enter the United States duty-free; increasing the amount new small businesses could deduct for equipment; and allowing a $5,000 tax credit for adopting a child. In addition, the new law incorporated changes in pension policy that made it easier for small businesses to create pension plans with less bureaucratic oversight.

Line-item Veto.

Congress relinquished some of its power through legislation giving the president the right (subject to congressional override) to strike specific items from certain tax and spending bills, not including existing entitlement programs. The measure, signed by President Clinton in April, provided the functional equivalent of the line-item veto allowed to many state governors, without amending the federal Constitution. A suit challenging the law, filed by a government-employee union, was dismissed by a federal appeals court in December.

Appropriations.

The Republican-dominated Congress was seven months late in finalizing fiscal 1996 appropriations bills, with members quarreling among themselves and with President Clinton over spending and policy. Two government shutdowns occurred in late 1995 and early 1996 before the warring factions finally came to terms in April.

Passage of fiscal 1997 appropriations bills provided a sharp contrast. Congress managed to get all 13 of the 1997 spending bills passed before the September 30 deadline. Influenced by members anxious to get home and campaign, Republican leaders resisted attaching an array of controversial policy riders to the bills. The final legislation included a compromise version of the disputed immigration bill, funding for antiterrorism initiatives, disaster aid for areas devastated by Hurricane Fran and Western wildfires, and a White House antidrug program.

Safe Drinking Water.

A major revision of federal drinking-water legislation was signed into law in August. The Safe Drinking Water Act, which received strong bipartisan support, included a $9.6 billion loan fund to help communities upgrade their water systems. The measure also gave regulators more flexibility in revising health standards, provided water customers with more information on contaminants in tap water, and allowed smaller systems exemptions from some expensive regulations. Since lawmakers missed the August 1 deadline for reauthorization of the Safe Drinking Water Act, a $725 million appropriation intended to help states with drinking-water projects reverted to an Environmental Protection Agency wastewater fund.

Pesticide Regulations.

Congress completed a major bipartisan revision of federal pesticide regulations during the summer, and President Clinton signed the measure in August. The new regulations created a unified 'reasonable risk' health standard for both raw and processed foods and included guidelines for protecting children from pesticides. The measure also replaced the so-called Delaney Clause, enacted in 1958, which had barred from processed foods even minute traces of any chemical ever found to cause cancer in laboratory animals. Unanimous passage of the bill broke a nearly 20-year deadlock between industry and environmental advocates.

Securities Regulation.

Congress enacted legislation modernizing regulation of securities and mutual funds, shifting oversight of large investment-adviser companies from the states to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The measure, signed by President Clinton in October, was intended to make it easier for investors to discover if a financial planner had been disciplined by regulators. Other provisions eased the way for wealthy individuals to invest in 'hedge funds' (somewhat risky investment pools similar to but less regulated than mutual funds), lowered SEC stock registration fees, and preempted state regulation of mutual funds.

Thrift Deposit Insurance.

In an attempt to shore up the federal fund that insures thrift deposits, Congress included recapitalization of the Savings Association Insurance Fund in the fiscal 1997 appropriations package. Bipartisan congressional action came after federal regulators agreed that the SAIF did not provide adequate protection to taxpayers. The measure also tried to address the disparity between deposit insurance premiums paid by banks and thrifts. In addition, the law set the stage for a possible future bill to convert thrifts into banks.

Immigration.

Legislation aimed especially at curbing illegal immigration cleared Congress as part of the giant spending bill and was signed by the president in September. The immigration measure authorized funds for more Border Patrol agents and construction of a fence along part of the Mexican border. Other provisions speeded up detention and deportation procedures, added new penalties for alien smuggling, and set up programs for identifying illegal immigrants in the workplace. Income requirements for sponsors of legal immigrants were tightened. Opposition from religious, ethnic, and business groups defeated attempts to place other restrictions on legal immigration, and a provision that would have allowed states to deny public schooling to the children of illegal immigrants also was dropped.

Antiterrorism.

Congress stepped up efforts to deal with domestic and foreign terrorism, amid memories of such incidents as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. In April, Clinton signed into law a measure intended to prevent certain suspected terrorist groups from raising money in the United States. The law also provided new authority to deny entry to undocumented foreigners seeking asylum. The measure added restrictions on federal appeals by death-row inmates and other prisoners. In fall 1996, Congress included $1.1 billion in funds for combating terrorism in its major spending packages.

Sanctions.

Congress passed bills imposing sanctions on foreign companies investing in Cuba, Iran, and Libya — legislation that drew criticism from U.S. allies and trading partners. Early in the year Congress passed legislation tightening the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba; the measure, the Helms-Burton Act, was in reaction to an incident in February, when Cuba shot down two unarmed U.S. civilian aircraft owned by a Cuban exile organization that rescued refugees seeking to flee Cuba and distributed materials promoting civil disobedience. Among other provisions, this measure added tough restrictions barring executives who traffic in expropriated properties from entering the United States. The Iran-Libya bill, signed by Clinton in August, penalized foreign firms assisting the oil industries of Iran or Libya, countries considered prime supporters of international terrorism.

Same-sex Marriages.

Congress defined marriage as the union between a man and a woman, thereby precluding gay couples from receiving federal spousal benefits. Legislation enacted by Congress also exempted states from any obligation to honor homosexual marriages sanctioned in other states.

1996 Congressional Changes.

In November 1996, Republicans retained their majority in the House of Representatives, with some losses, and increased by two seats their majority in the Senate. In the Senate the ideological balance shifted notably to the right with the addition of such conservatives as Wayne Allard of Colorado, Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback of Kansas, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas, and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.

After Bob Dole resigned from the Senate to devote himself to his presidential campaign, Trent Lott of Mississippi won the Senate majority leadership. Lott, while more ideologically conservative, proved effective in shepherding legislation through Congress.

In late December a House ethics subcommittee composed of two Democrats and two Republicans charged that Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich had used tax-exempt funds for political purposes and subsequently provided false information about his actions. Gingrich himself admitted that he had provided subcommittee investigators 'inaccurate, incomplete, and unreliable' information about use of tax-exempt funds for a college course he had taught. Gingrich narrowly won reelection as Speaker in a vote held, over Democratic (and a few Republican) protests, before the special counsel investigating charges against him had presented his final report to the subcommittee and before a decision on an appropriate punishment had been made.

1995: United States: Congress

A new political era dawned in Washington in January 1995 as the 104th Congress marched into town to the beat of a Republican revolution that saw the GOP controlling both the House and the Senate for the first time in more than 40 years and the Democrats reduced to the ranks of the loyal opposition.

The Republicans, led by House Speaker Newt Gingrich, immediately took the offensive with an ambitious legislative agenda — based largely on the GOP's Contract With America — for the first 100 days of the session. While the House passed ten of the agenda's 11 items — rejecting only a constitutional amendment setting term limits for members of Congress — the Senate proved to be more cautious and skeptical, putting the brakes on some measures while blocking others. By the end of the year only four contract items had become law, as Congress enacted the fewest number of bills in a first session — 67 — since the close of World War II. The first session was also marked by contentiousness and an inability to compromise, as demonstrated vividly in the budget battle that closed much of the federal government for a record 23 days in 1995 and kept Congress in session over Christmas for the first time in 15 years.

Among the contract items that became law, one dealt with congressional compliance, in effect making Congress adhere to the workplace laws it passes. Another addressed unfunded mandates, curbing federal requirements on states unless funds are supplied to implement those requirements. A third set goals to reduce federal paperwork. The fourth, aimed at curtailing so-called frivolous securities lawsuits, was enacted in December after Congress overrode President Bill Clinton's veto.

The fate of the rest of the contract items remained uncertain. A welfare reform package that passed both chambers in late December faced a veto. Other contract bills, including bills giving the president a line-item veto and involving civil litigation reforms, remained mired in conference committees. Yet others passed in one chamber in 1995 but remained held up in the other, as was the case with bills dealing with regulatory reform.

Other measures that remained stalled in conference committees or in one chamber at the end of the year included bills that would revamp telecommunications regulations, ban late-term abortions, streamline federal job-training programs, reauthorize the Clean Water Act, and curb terrorism.

Before adjourning for the year, Congress did manage to pass — and the president sign — bills lifting the export ban on Alaskan oil and eliminating the national speed limit on highways. Congress also voted to ban or severely restrict gifts its members can receive and sent to the president a measure regulating registration of Washington lobbyists.

As the session ended, Congress and the White House were still struggling to reach agreement on measures to balance the budget by the year 2002, cut taxes, and fund government agencies for fiscal year 1996. The Senate gave reluctant endorsement to the president's decision to deploy U.S. soldiers in Bosnia; the House passed a resolution supporting the troops but deploring the policy.

What Congress Completed.

Congress passed legislation lifting the 22-year-old export ban on Alaskan North Slope oil. The measure, signed by President Clinton in late November, permits overseas shipment of as much as 25 percent of U.S. oil production. The law also provided for the sale of the Alaskan Power Administration and waived for five years royalty payments on deepwater oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil export ban, imposed in 1973, was enacted when an embargo by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries created oil shortages in the United States.

Legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton in November allows states to set their own highway speed limits. The measure received overwhelming support in Congress despite last-minute lobbying by safety, environmental, and insurance groups. The national speed limit had been lowered to 55 miles per hour in 1974 as a way to conserve energy during the international oil embargo. The measure was part of a larger bill that established a 160,955-mile National Highway System and made available to the states $5.2 billion in federal highway aid.

Congress passed legislation aimed at protecting corporations from so-called frivolous lawsuits by investors. Both chambers easily overrode President Clinton's veto in late December. The legislation makes it more difficult for stockholders to file and win lawsuits when they believe they have been misled by company officials.

Heeding public demand for curbing the influence of special interests in Washington, Congress enacted two major political reforms during the first session. The lobbyist disclosure bill, which the president signed in December, tightened registration and disclosure rules for Washington lobbyists. More lobbyists would have to register. Lobbying of congressional staff (as well as members) and of federal agencies would have to be reported, and lobbyists would have to disclose in greater detail how much they are paid and by whom and what issues they lobby on.

New congressional rules enacted during the year limited gifts that members of Congress can receive from lobbyists. The tougher House version, passed in mid-November, barred House members and their staffs from receiving any gifts, meals, or trips except those from family members and friends. The Senate version, passed in July, allowed senators to accept gifts, including meals, costing under $50 and no more than $100 from a single source in a year. Both versions allowed lawmakers to attend conventions, conferences, dinners, and charity events at the expense of a sponsor in the course of official duties. Lawmakers could also continue to take expense-paid trips if they were for fact-finding purposes or connected with official duties.

Bosnia.

Late in the year President Clinton agreed not to veto the $243 billion defense appropriations bill — which included $7 billion more than requested by the Pentagon and a ban on abortions in military hospitals overseas, both of which the president opposed — if Congress would fund sending some 20,000 U.S. troops to Bosnia to enforce the peace agreement reached in Dayton, OH, in November. In mid-December the Senate approved the deployment; the House passed a resolution supporting the troops but went on record as opposing the policy that sent them to Bosnia.

Budget Battle.

As the year ended Congress and the White House, after months of political jockeying, were still trying to reach an agreement on a balanced-budget plan and to complete work on the seven outstanding spending bills covering most domestic programs for fiscal year 1996 (which began on October 1, 1995).

The inability of the two sides to reach agreement on a balanced-budget plan led to two government shutdowns and furloughs for many federal workers. The first shutdown, in mid-November, lasted six days, and the other, which began in mid-December, became the longest in U.S. history, stretching out through the December holidays into the new year. To end the first closure, Congress and the White House agreed on a stopgap spending measure that sent federal employees back to work until December 15 and outlined terms for the budget negotiations. But when both sides failed to meet a December 15 budget deadline, some 280,000 federal workers were sent home. House Republican freshmen and other conservatives backed continuing the shutdown until the president supported a far-reaching plan to cut taxes and balance the budget by the year 2002.

Other Unfinished Business.

Proposed Republican tax cuts were included in the budget negotiations between the White House and Congress that stretched into 1996. The cuts included a $500-per-child tax credit, lower capital gains taxes, easing of the so-called marriage penalty, and expanded individual retirement account savings plans. Many of these provisions were incorporated into the budget reconciliation bill for fiscal year 1996, which Clinton vetoed in December 1995.

Both houses approved new constraints on abortions, including the criminalizing of certain rare, late-term abortions. This was the first time Congress had banned a specific type of abortion. The issue remained to be resolved by a conference committee during the second session. The president had threatened to veto such legislation.

A watered-down version of the Clean Water Act, first passed in 1972, rafted through the House in May. Revision of the act would terminate or ease several of the current law's antipollution requirements, sharply curtail the powers of federal agencies to bar development in wetlands areas, and permit states to rely on voluntary measures to deal with some water-pollution problems. The Senate took no action on the bill.

Another bill, aimed at setting safe drinking-water standards, passed the Senate in late November. The measure required the Environmental Protection Agency to use cost-benefit analysis in setting regulations and gave the states greater flexibility in meeting requirements. At year's end no action had been taken on a similar bill introduced in the House.

Most offenders convicted of serious federal crimes would have to compensate their victims under a bill that cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee in November. A similar measure had cleared the House in February as part of an anticrime package. Other anticrime legislation passed by the House in February would allow prosecutors to use illegally obtained evidence under certain circumstances, limit death-row appeals, speed up deportation of aliens guilty of crimes, and increase federal aid for prison construction if states were to adopt tough sentencing laws. The Senate had made no plans to consider comprehensive anticrime legislation during the first session.

The House and Senate each passed a measure aimed at streamlining the nation's job-training programs. The House bill would consolidate an estimated 100 federal education and training programs into three block grants of some $5 billion to the states beginning in fiscal 1997. The measure would also cut more than 50 higher-education programs and certain federal ties to the Student Loan Marketing Association. The Senate bill would eliminate or consolidate nearly 80 programs into a single $8 billion block grant; the changes were to take effect in fiscal 1998.

The Republican quest for a presidential line-item veto of all or parts of appropriations bills moved a step closer to reality in 1995. Both the House and Senate passed line-item measures early in the session, but the matter got caught up in the budget impasse. Republicans seemed less enthusiastic about the line-item veto now that they had majorities in both houses and there was a Democrat in the White House. The House version would allow the president to make cuts in programs unless Congress voted to overturn his actions. The Senate approach would break up appropriations bills into smaller ones and allow the president to veto individual programs.

Both House and Senate passed bills limiting product-liability lawsuits and capping punitive damages. The Senate bill, agreed to in May, would limit damages only in product-liability cases. The House bill, which cleared in March, called for a tighter cap on all civil litigation, limited medical malpractice liability, and protected manufacturers of medical devices and drugs. Reconciliation efforts failed, and further consideration of the bills was postponed until 1996.

Attempts to require the federal government to document that the value of proposed regulations are worth the cost remained stalled in the Senate. A House version of the bill — which included a risk-management procedure, a cost-benefit measure, and private property compensation — passed in March. Floor debate in the Senate over a more moderate version was suspended in July because the Senate was deadlocked on the issue.

House and Senate negotiators worked into the new year in hopes of reaching agreement on a bill that would rewrite the nation's telecommunications laws, promote competition, and relax regulation of telephone, cable, and broadcast companies. The measure aimed to open local telephone monopolies to competition; restrain regional Bell telephone companies as they move into long-distance and equipment markets; and define competition in video services among telephone companies, cable carriers, satellite services, and broadcasters.

Antiterrorism legislation, which experienced a groundswell of support after the April bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building, remained stalled in the House at year's end. House leaders lacked the votes to pass their measure as a result of civil liberties objections voiced by liberal members and the concern of conservatives reluctant to expand the powers of the federal government. The Senate passed its version in June. The bills called for additional funds, agents, and equipment for federal law enforcement; increased police access to travel records in terrorism cases; easier procedures for deportation of suspected alien terrorists; and limits on fund-raising by groups linked to terrorism.

In late December, Congress approved a measure to reform the U.S. welfare system. The measure would eliminate the federal government guarantee of payments to eligible low-income mothers and children and allow states to operate their own welfare programs using federal block grants. Many able-bodied recipients would be required to work in order to receive benefits. Families would be restricted to a two-year benefit period at a time and to a maximum of five years of benefits. Clinton vetoed the bill in early 1996.

Flag Desecration Amendment.

In December 1995 a constitutional amendment to ban desecration of the U.S. flag fell three votes short of the two-thirds majority needed for Senate approval. The amendment had passed the House easily in June.

Departures.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Bob Packwood (R, Oregon) announced his resignation in early September in the face of almost certain expulsion over charges of sexual harassment and misconduct. The five-term senator's resignation was announced a day after the Senate Ethics Committee recommended his expulsion, marking the first time the Senate recognized sexual misconduct as grounds for punishment. Packwood's departure came just as his committee was beginning work on spending cuts, taxes, health policy, and finding a way to balance the budget — all areas where Senate Republicans had been counting on Packwood's considerable legislative skills. Senator William Roth (R, Delaware) replaced Packwood as committee chair.

Mel Reynolds (D, Illinois) resigned from the House after conviction in August on charges of sexual misconduct with a teenaged campaign worker and obstruction of justice.

1994: United States: Congress

The 103rd Congress, dominated by Democrats in both chambers, started out in January 1993 with high hopes of a long and successful production, directed by the first Democratic president in 12 years. By the time the curtain closed in October 1994, however, Republicans had stolen the show, and Congress was being booed offstage by angry voters who, at least in the Congress's second year, saw little accomplished other than partisan bickering and political infighting. A special session late in the year that brought congressional approval of a new world trade pact did not alter the overall picture.

As members rushed home to campaign for the November 8 elections, much of what President Bill Clinton and the Democrats had hoped would be the legacy of the 103rd Congress lay in shambles — shattered by successful Republican opposition that was aided by presidential missteps and division among Democrats themselves. A major health care reform program, campaign-finance and lobbying reforms, and most of the environmental initiatives were among the casualties, despite earlier promises that a Democratic-controlled Congress working with a Democratic president would mean an end to legislative gridlock. There were concrete accomplishments in 1993, but there were embarrassing defeats as well. And the record for 1994 was slim. Even many of the victories — a $30 billion anticrime bill, several education bills, a measure to protect California deserts, and legislation making it a crime to block access to abortion clinics — barely made it through Congress.

In the November elections voters made it clear what they thought of Congress's performance. Republicans won a majority in the House for the first time in 40 years and returned to power in the Senate after an eight-year hiatus. Among Democratic casualties were some powerful politicians, including House Speaker Tom Foley (D, Washington); Dan Rostenkowski (D, Illinois), who had stepped down as House Ways and Means Committee chairman earlier in the year, after being indicted on corruption charges; and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Jim Sasser (D, Tennessee). No Republican incumbent was defeated.

As a result of the midterm elections, Republicans picked up a total of 52 seats in the House and eight in the Senate. A day after the election Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama — a Democrat who frequently voted with Republicans — officially switched parties, bringing the GOP gain in the Senate to nine.

What Congress Did.

In an effort to combat violence at abortion clinics, Congress passed legislation in May making it a federal crime to use or threaten force to intimidate anyone seeking or performing an abortion. Violators of the law could face criminal penalties, as well as civil damages and restraining orders.

Responding to voters' concern over crime, Congress in August passed a $30.2 billion anticrime bill that, among other things, banned the manufacture, sale, and possession of 19 types of assault weapons, provided $8.8 billion in funds for hiring of new police officers, extended the death penalty to more than 50 federal crimes, and allotted $6.9 billion for programs aimed at crime prevention. Each house had passed its own version of an anticrime bill the previous year, and in July 1994, House and Senate negotiators had crafted a compromise between the two versions. The new bill included an assault weapons ban but dropped a provision that would have allowed use of sentencing statistics to challenge death sentences as racially discriminatory. Anti-gun-control Democrats joined Republicans in an unsuccessful effort to block the revised bill in the House; in the Senate, supporters mustered the necessary votes to cut off debate after a few days and get the measure passed there as well, by late August.

Congress also approved legislation that would eliminate barriers to interstate banking. The nation's largest banks had for years been lobbying to create nationwide branch networks. Supporters of the legislation said the change would streamline the banking system and make it more profitable. Opponents, led by consumer groups and smaller banks, said the move would result in the concentration of the banking industry in too few hands.

In its last act before preelection adjournment Congress passed a bill to protect millions of acres of California desert. The action was the most comprehensive U.S. land conservation measure since 1980 and marked the end of an eight-year battle. Under the bill, whose passage was spearheaded by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D, California), land from the Sierra Nevada to the U.S.-Mexico border was to be protected as wilderness, and national monument areas in Death Valley and at Joshua Tree were to become national parks. The Mojave area was designated as a national preserve — a step below national park status — as a concession to hunters. A filibuster on the bill was cut short, partly because of the bipartisan appeal of protecting the large area from developers and partly because of lawmakers' desire to return to their home states to campaign.

In education, Congress passed several initiatives, including renewal of a $12.4 billion elementary and secondary aid program to help the nation's poorest children, curb school violence, and bring more technology to classrooms. Other measures funded a job skills program to help students not planning to attend college become more employable, set national education goals for all students and schools, expanded the Head Start program to disadvantaged preschoolers under the age of three, and overhauled the college student loan program.

Members of Congress were focusing on the White-water investigation — a look into allegations of financial wrongdoing related to an Arkansas resort development in which the Clintons had invested — when the legislators reinstated the independent counsel law, some 18 months after the 1978 statute had expired. The law provides for the appointment of prosecutors outside the Justice Department to investigate alleged misconduct of high-ranking officials. Shortly after President Clinton signed the bill in late June, an independent prosecutor was appointed to investigate Whitewater allegations and another to examine charges against Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy involving gifts from a poultry business regulated by the Agriculture Department. As a result of the probe into his affairs, Espy, saying he had broken no laws or ethics rules, announced he would resign as of December 31.

Congress put the Federal Bureau of Investigation in charge of counterintelligence and authorized a broad review of intelligence agencies in the new era following the end of the cold war. The move came in the aftermath of the case of Aldrich H. Ames, a longtime Central Intelligence Agency officer who spied for the Soviet Union and Russia from 1985 until his arrest and conviction earlier in 1994. The FBI had complained that the CIA was slow to inform the bureau that Ames was suspected of espionage.

In an accomplishment unusual in recent decades, the appropriations bills for the new fiscal year were passed by Congress, and signed by the president, before the new fiscal year began on October 1.

Congress returned from election adjournment to a special lame-duck session in order to approve the international trade agreement reached in the so-called Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The GATT treaty lowered tariffs worldwide and covered for the first time such areas as intellectual property and agricultural commodities. It won congressional support across party lines, clearing the House of Representatives by a vote of 288-146 and the Senate by a 76-24 vote.

What Congress Did Not Do.

President Clinton's sweeping plan for restructuring the nation's health care system died in September, after Congress had spent a year considering it, along with a number of less complicated alternatives. The 1,342-page bill, a key element in the president's legislative program, had been formally presented to Congress in October 1993, following months of deliberation, often behind closed doors, by a task force headed by his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton. The plan, criticized by some as too bureaucratic, called for basic benefits to be made available to all, paid partly by business and partly by the consumer (with government subsidies to help individuals and small companies pay). Premiums were to be collected by regional 'health alliances' that negotiate with networks of health care providers and offer a choice among them; a panel appointed by the president was to oversee the system, establish standards, and monitor quality of services. The Republicans and the health insurance industry strongly opposed the plan, while Democrats never settled differences among themselves. A bipartisan proposal to make incremental changes came too late in the game, and the measure was abandoned before any legislation reached the House or the Senate floor.

The Senate defeated a proposed constitutional amendment requiring the federal government to balance the budget each year unless three-fifths of both chambers approved lifting the requirement. The measure, which had also been defeated in 1992 and failed to get to the floor in 1993, faced better prospects in 1995, however, with Republicans dominating both chambers. In fact, House Republicans made it one of the top ten legislative priorities outlined in their Contract With America, a set of proposals they promised to introduce, or reintroduce, in Congress in 1995. (If the proposed constitutional amendment should pass Congress, it would then have to gain approval from three-fourths of the 50 state legislatures in order to go into effect.)

An attempt to change the way congressional campaigns are financed failed in the face of Republican opposition to public financing and Democratic differences over whether to limit contributions from political action committees. The bill — which would have set voluntary spending limits on congressional races, with public matching funds for those candidates who comply — died in the Senate in September, when Democrats failed to stop a Republican-led filibuster. Democrats may have contributed to the measure's downfall by waiting until the last minute to propose a compromise. This was the fourth consecutive Congress to witness the demise of a Democratic campaign finance bill.

Congress also failed to pass a bill that would have tightened financial disclosure requirements for lobbyists and barred them from providing meals, entertainment, and travel to members of Congress and their staffs. The measure died when the Senate could not get the votes to quell a Republican-led filibuster near the end of the session. Both the House and the Senate had originally passed lobbying disclosure and gift ban provisions by wide margins.

A comprehensive bill to reauthorize the nation's most important water pollution law never made it to the floor of either chamber; the measure had cleared a Senate committee but ran into trouble in the House Public Works and Transportation Committee. Controversy over federal restrictions on wetlands development continued to be the major stumbling block.

A bill that would have revised the nation's drinking water laws died when House and Senate negotiators failed to work out differences over several issues, including the health risks posed by certain contaminants in drinking water. One key proposal would have created a revolving loan fund to help state and local governments build and improve drinking water treatment plants.

Another environmental bill, to overhaul the nation's hazardous waste program, died in the final weeks of the congressional session, a victim of partisan politics and differences over issues such as insurance, taxes, and fair wages.

Senate Republicans, threatening a filibuster, stopped a bill that would have made it illegal for employers to permanently replace workers striking over wages and benefits.

An attempt to rewrite the country's telecommunication laws and permit competition between telephone and cable television companies got disconnected in September, as a result of insurmountable differences among rival industry groups and between Democrats and Republicans.

The 104th Congress.

In the weeks following the elections, members of each party in each chamber met to select leaders for the new Congress, which was to convene in early January 1995. Robert H. Michel, the Republican leader in the House in the 103rd Congress, was retiring; for speaker in the new GOP-controlled House, Republicans chose the fiery Newt Gingrich of Georgia, who had previously been the minority whip. Texans Dick Armey and Tom DeLay were selected as, respectively, House majority leader and majority whip, and John Boehner of Ohio became chair of the Republican caucus. House Democrats elected Richard Gephardt of Missouri as minority leader (he had served as majority leader under Speaker Foley). The two other top Democratic leadership positions went to David Bonior of Michigan (minority leader) and Vic Fazio of California (chair of the Democratic caucus).

In the upper chamber, Senator Robert Dole of Kansas, minority leader in the 103rd Congress, was chosen as majority leader; for the post of his deputy, or majority whip, Republicans elected Trent Lott, a conservative from Mississippi. Democrats selected Thomas Daschle of South Dakota as Senate minority leader; chosen as his deputy was Wendell Ford of Kentucky, majority whip under the Democratic leader in the 103rd Congress, Senator George Mitchell of Maine, who retired in 1994.

The November election results meant that committees in both houses would have Republican majorities and new Republican chairs. House Republicans also announced plans to make sweeping changes — among other things, eliminating several committees and two dozen subcommittees, cutting hundreds of employees from the House payroll, limiting the tenure of committee chairs, eliminating funding for caucuses (interest groups for representatives — such as the Congressional Black Caucus), and banning most closed-door hearings. These changes, some of which many Democrats also supported, required approval by the full House in order to go into effect.

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.

1992: United States: Congress

By the time the 102nd Congress left Washington in October 1992, it was an institution wracked by internal scandals and bloodied, in an election year, by its battles with President George Bush over domestic issues. The same body that had distinguished itself with its dignified debate of the Persian Gulf War in 1991, prior to voting to authorize the use of force against Iraq, spent much of the 1992 session gridlocked by partisan politics and presidential vetoes, budget constraints, and the House bank and post office scandals. The result was a rather meager legislative record, although Congress passed comprehensive energy legislation, overrode the president's veto of a bill regulating the cable television industry, and expanded aid programs for middle-class college students. But lost among the Senate filibusters and presidential vetoes were bills dealing with family leave, abortion rights, congressional campaign finance, urban enterprise zones, gun control, and restrictions on trade with China. And on the key issue of reform of the healthcare system, Democrats and Republicans could not even reach consensus within their own parties.

House Bank Scandal.

Even though the House had closed its controversial bank — an institution that permitted members routinely to bounce checks — and ordered an investigation in 1991, the issue haunted members in 1992 and played a role in the record number of resignations and defeats among incumbent representatives. In April the House released the names of 325 current and former members who had overdrawn their checking accounts. Although Democrats had wanted to identify only the 24 worst offenders, Republicans pressed for full disclosure, and the Democrats capitulated. Just as the House debate over naming names began in March, Sergeant-at-Arms Jack Russ, whose office ran the bank, resigned.

About a week later, Attorney General William Barr appointed retired Federal Appeals Judge Malcolm Wilkey as special counsel to investigate whether any crimes had been committed. Wilkey then subpoenaed the House bank's records, setting off a protracted debate over whether the House should disclose its internal records. Republicans again won over Democratic objections. Wilkey's final report in December, based on an examination of 329 accounts, cleared all but a handful of present or former members of criminal wrongdoing. Those cases were referred to Justice Department prosecutors for further investigation.

House Post Office Investigation.

As the House bank scandal was brewing, another scandal, this one at the House post office, boiled over. It started in 1991 with a criminal investigation of stamp clerks suspected of embezzlement and drug dealing. Eventually four clerks, a supervisor, and the post office's chief of staff pleaded guilty to various charges. Postmaster Robert V. Rota resigned in March 1992.

Then, in May, a grand jury subpoenaed expense account records from three Democratic representatives who claimed to have purchased large quantities of stamps in recent years. News reports said a postal supervisor had told investigators that some House members converted expense vouchers or campaign checks to cash through transactions disguised as stamp purchases. The three — Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski of Illinois and Pennsylvania Representatives Joe Kolter and Austin J. Murphy — denied any wrongdoing. In July they invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying before the grand jury. Late in the year prosecutors subpoenaed a number of aides to Rostenkowski, whose congressional and campaign offices reported purchasing some $55,000 worth of stamps.

Ethics.

In August the Senate Ethics Committee formally rebuked Senator Mark Hatfield for accepting and delaying the reporting of gifts totaling nearly $43,000 between 1983 and 1988. But the committee did not discipline the Oregon Republican (a rebuke by the panel required no further action by the Senate as a whole), and the senator accepted the committee's judgment. The rebuke came after a 15-month investigation, sparked by news reports about gifts and loans from those who could have had an interest in Hatfield's action's, particularly when he was Appropriations Committee chairman. The ethics panel noted, however, that it had no evidence that Hatfield had been swayed by the gifts.

Late in the year the committee was preparing to investigate sexual harassment charges against Oregon's other senator, Republican Bob Packwood. At least 16 women accused Packwood of making unwanted sexual advances. Packwood expressed regret for his 'unwelcome and offensive' conduct toward the women but refused to resign his seat. The charges had come to light just after the 60-year-old senator was elected to his fifth term. The Ethics Committee had never before conducted a sexual harassment inquiry; in May it decided not to investigate sexual misconduct allegations against Brock Adams (D, Wash.), saying that all but one of the alleged incidents had occurred before Adams became a senator, in January 1987, and that the remaining charge had been found by a U.S. attorney to lack merit. (However, in the wake of the charges, Adams decided not to run for reelection in November 1992.)

Campaign Finance.

A bill to limit spending in congressional elections was vetoed by President Bush in May. The bill had been hailed by some as the most comprehensive effort to reform federal election law in nearly 20 years. The president said the measure was too expensive, too skewed against challengers, and too lenient on special interests. Under the legislation, candidates who agreed to spending limits and other restrictions would have received federal campaign funds. The bill would have restricted political action committee contributions and so-called soft money (funds raised and spent by political parties, as a way around campaign spending ceilings for candidates).

Budget and Taxes.

In its last major act of the 1992 session, Congress passed a bill providing tax benefits to businesses to help revitalize inner cities, restoring the tax deductibility of Individual Retirement Account contributions for many middle-class taxpayers, and extending popular tax breaks such as credits for low-income housing. The bill included revenue-raising measures totaling $27 billion, to offset a total of $27 billion in tax cuts. But President Bush, making good on his reelection campaign pledge of no more new taxes ever, vetoed the measure (a day after losing the election). The president objected to what he characterized as numerous tax increases and said the bill would have destroyed jobs and undermined small businesses. Proposed after the Los Angeles riots, the bill would have created 50 urban and rural enterprise zones and given businesses tax incentives to invest in these areas. The bill also would have repealed the 10 percent luxury tax imposed in 1990 on yachts, airplanes, and expensive jewelry.

Within days of the start of the new fiscal year, on October 1, Congress approved all 13 of its regular appropriations bills, keeping spending within the limits set by the 1990 congressional-White House budget agreement and President Bush's January proposed budget. Total discretionary spending in the 13 bills was $16.2 billion below the 1990 spending limits, as a result of the cuts needed to meet Bush's limit and additional cuts in defense and foreign aid.

Energy Policy.

Congress passed a comprehensive energy bill aimed at decreasing U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The measure, signed by President Bush in October, will restructure the electricity industry to promote competition; make it easier for utilities to obtain licenses to build and operate nuclear power plants; and encourage conservation, use of renewable energy sources (such as wind and solar power), and use of alternative fuels for cars and light trucks. The bill also included tax breaks for independent gas and oil drillers. But it sidestepped controversial issues, such as whether to allow drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or force Detroit to build more fuel-efficient cars. Some environmental groups opposed the measure because of a provision that could weaken safety standards for a proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

Just before adjournment Congress cleared the way for the Energy Department to open the nation's first permanent burial ground for defense-related nuclear waste, at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The $1 billion facility is carved out of salt beds more than 2,000 feet beneath the desert floor. But the act required approval from several agencies and a ten-month waiting period before any waste can be stored at the facility.

Cable Television Regulation.

On October 5 a defiant Congress ended Bush's string of 35 successful vetoes since the beginning of his presidency when it overrode his veto of a bill aimed at regulating the cable television industry. Under the measure, the Federal Communications Commission would oversee rates for basic cable service. The government would also regulate prices for cable equipment and set up minimum customer service standards. Supporters said the measure was aimed at lowering rates, improving service, and spurring competition, but the cable industry argued that the legislation would end up raising rates.

Unemployment Benefits.

In July, Congress passed and President Bush signed a bill extending emergency unemployment benefits for the third time in the past year. It also permanently changed the unemployment insurance system by allowing extended benefits to kick in more easily during times of high joblessness, without Congress having to act on an emergency basis. Until the new system went into effect, in March 1993, workers in the 15 hardest-hit states would get an extra 26 weeks of benefits, and workers in all other states and the District of Columbia an additional 20 weeks, beyond the usual 26 weeks of state compensation.

Education Loans.

A new higher education bill expanded student access to financial aid grants and subsidized student loans. By removing a family's house or farm equity from the assets included in calculating need for aid, the bill made aid programs available to more middle-class students. It also created an unsubsidized loan program for all students, regardless of their income.

Abortion.

Repeated vetoes by President Bush stymied efforts by pro-choice forces in Congress to weaken federal abortion restrictions. In October the House fell ten votes short of overriding Bush's veto of a bill that would have overturned the so-called gag rule, barring most abortion counseling in family planning clinics receiving federal funds. (In November, however, a federal appeals court invalidated the gag rule on procedural grounds.) A bill that would have reversed an administration ban on federal funding for medical research using fetal tissue obtained during elective abortions was also vetoed.

Crime.

Efforts to pass a comprehensive anticrime bill failed. In October the Senate could not muster the votes to cut off a threatened Republican filibuster of a House-passed bill that would have extended the death penalty to more than 50 crimes, imposed new penalties for crimes committed with guns, and restricted death row inmates' ability to challenge their sentences. The measure included the so-called Brady bill calling for a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases to allow for a police background check.

Congress did pass a separate measure making carjacking, or stealing cars from drivers at gunpoint, a federal crime — and imposing the death penalty if the victim dies during a carjacking. Congressional action followed an apparent rise in fatal carjackings, especially in some big cities, and growing public concern about the crime. President Bush signed the measure into law on October 25.

Family Leave.

A family and medical leave bill once again fell victim to President Bush's veto pen, as the House came up 27 votes short of the two-thirds margin needed to override. (A similar measure had been vetoed in 1990.) Under the 1992 bill, employers would have been required to give all but their highest-paid employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a new baby, a newly adopted child, or an ill family member. Since the legislation applied only to businesses with 50 or more employees, about 95 percent of employers would have been exempt.

Voter Registration.

President Bush vetoed a bill that would have required states to allow people to register to vote when they come to state agencies for a driver's license or welfare check. Supporters said the measure would boost voter registration, while opponents argued that it would increase voter fraud. Both chambers passed the bill with sizable margins, but neither the House nor the Senate could override the president's July veto.

Healthcare.

Although broad healthcare policy proposals made little headway, Congress did pass a measure to assist community health centers burdened by high malpractice insurance premiums. Nonprofit community health centers serve some 6 million low-income people, but many centers have curtailed such services as prenatal and obstetric care because of the cost of malpractice insurance. Under the new law, the federal government will defend the clinics' professional staff in malpractice cases and pay any resulting claims, saving the clinics tens of millions of dollars a year in insurance premiums.

Military Spending.

Congress appropriated $254 billion for Defense Department spending in fiscal 1993, $16 billion less than it had appropriated for the previous year. The bill trimmed the number of active-duty military personnel to 1.77 million, a reduction of nearly 99,000 from the fiscal 1992 ceiling. To help defense contractors, military personnel, and local communities deal with the cuts, the measure included funding to help companies retool, temporarily allow military personnel to retire early and collect pensions, and provide job training and transitional health insurance. The bill also allocated $2.69 billion for four B-2 Stealth bombers (completion of the weapons would be subject to a congressional go-ahead in 1993) and $3.8 billion for the Strategic Defense Initiative, the antimissile defense system popularly known as Star Wars.

Foreign Aid.

Congress passed President Bush's multibillion dollar aid package for republics of the former Soviet Union. The legislation authorized $410 million in humanitarian, economic, and other types of aid for Russia and 11 other republics and $800 million to help dismantle elements of the former Soviet nuclear arsenal. Provisions in another piece of legislation, the foreign operations appropriations bill, provided $417 million in economic and technical assistance to former Soviet republics — contingent on progress in removing Soviet troops from the Baltic states.

Congress cleared its first general foreign aid bill in two years during the final days of the 1992 session. (In 1991 the foreign aid bill was defeated; funding for 1992 was provided for in a continuing resolution.) The new measure provided $12.3 billion in new funding for the International Monetary Fund and $14 billion for other international assistance programs. The measure also provided $10 billion in loan guarantees to Israel over the next five years to help with the resettlement of immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

Trade With China.

President Bush's decision to renew most-favored-nation trade status for China drew strong opposition from Congress, but lawmakers twice failed to override his veto of legislation restricting trade. In March and again in October the Senate sustained his veto of bills that tied extension of MFN status to improvements in China's record on human rights, trade, and weapons proliferation.

Clinton Appointees.

In December, President-elect Bill Clinton named four members of Congress, including three committee chairmen, for key posts in his administration. Slated to leave Congress (in addition to Tennessee Senator Al Gore, who was elected vice president) were Senator Lloyd Bentsen (D, Texas), influential chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to become treasury secretary; Representative Les Aspin (D, Wis.), head of the House Armed Services Committee, to become defense secretary; Representative Leon E. Panetta (D, Calif.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, to become director of the Office of Management and Budget; and Mississippi Representative Mike Espy (D), to become secretary of agriculture (the first black elected from Mississippi since Reconstruction, Espy would also be the first black to head the Agriculture Department).